EU: Apple market expected to be tight
“We're in a very special situation which we haven't seen in 20 years,” said Marc Peyres of Blue Whale Produce in France. “It's clear that there will be less quantities of apples from the United States and Western Europe. That hasn't happened since the big frost in Europe in 1991.”
Early warm weather in key apple-growing regions in the United States caused trees to bud early. When subsequent cold weather hit, many trees were vulnerable to frost, resulting in much damaged fruit. Coupled with low supplies in Europe, many retailers will have a hard time finding the varieties which are popular with European consumers.
“The main regions which export apples for us are the United States and Western Europe,” said Peyres. “Because they both have shortages, we just can't find the apples we want elsewhere. Both India and China have apples, but they mostly grow for an expanding local market instead of for export.” Even if China were willing to export more, added Peyres, the varieties they grow, by and large, do not match up with what European consumers want.
“China was expected to be a large exporter as they grew more apples, but they have not grown the right varieties for us,” he said. “For our buyers, we can't replace a nice Gala apple from France with something cheap from China.”
Though lower volume usually results in higher prices, Peyres noted that it will still be a challenge to get prices to compensate for the lower quantities they can offer. Because there's less fruit to go around, they won't be able to expand, which means no new customers.
“It's so much easier to to have more to sell than to not have enough,” he said. “All around, there will be more demand than what we have. We'll try to get by with less, to get better margins on less fruit and try to supply existing customers.” He added that looking ahead, they might be able to take on new business in future years, but the realities of this season mean that new potential buyers will have to wait a while.
But in spite of the challenges this year's shortage has brought, he remains optimistic about the season.
“Every year is a different story,” he said. “This year, it's a challenge, but we'll try to make it work. We'll try to see if we can sell what we have at a good price and still have a good consumption of apples.”
For more information:
Marc Peyres
Blue Whale
Tel: +33 5.63.21.56.56
[email protected]
www.blue-whale.com