Production
The total volume of apples produced is 2,262,574 tons, slightly less than last year. The same goes for "table apples", with a volume slightly lower than 2 million tons.
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The final quality of the fruit is particularly good, thanks to the good weather in summer and during harvesting. Unlike last year, there are no particular quality problems and fruit will have no problems during storing.
Click here to enlarge.
The final quality of the fruit is particularly good, thanks to the good weather in summer and during harvesting. Unlike last year, there are no particular quality problems and fruit will have no problems during storing.
Some mountain areas were affected by frost in late spring and unexpected hail in autumn, but volumes destined to the processing industry remain in line with previous years.
831,435 tons of Golden Delicious were produced, slightly less than last year, when production was 846,897 tons.
The production of Red Delicious was also lower at 222,863 tons.
The volumes of Granny Smith and Fuji went from 141,610 to 132,358 and from 163,071 to 144,328 tons, respectively. The production of Gala, Cripps Pink, new and club varieties increased and received very good feedback.
Stocks
Stocks of "table apples" on 1st December 2016 were 1,487,736 tons, in line with last year (1,494,683 tons).
Sales
A total of 509,500 tons have been sold since the beginning of the sales campaign, a quantity perfectly in line with last year, when the table apple production was similar to this season.
The Gala group registered a sale of 180,250 tons since the start of the season, and an excellent destocking rhythm was registered for Granny Smith as well, whose sales exceeded 20,000 tons in November. December stocks of Golden Delicious were lower than those in the previous two seasons.
The sales of Fuji (also thanks to a lower production) and Red Delicious are in line with destocking plans.
Trends and perspectives
The start of the sales season was rather positive as trends were in line with previous seasons and with the destocking plans of the single POs.
As regards quotations, it looks like there is a slight improvement with respect to last year.
For some varieties, and especially for the Gala, red, new and club varieties, the start of the season was particularly interesting, just like quotations.
During these first months, the Italian market is proving to be quite receptive, while there are still export problems that limit the access to key markets such as Egypt and Algeria. Exports towards some South-East Asia and South American countries - Brazil in particular - are going well, even though quantities are still limited.
At the moment, the market is rather fluid and things should go well in the next months too, especially for good-quality produce. Of course finding new markets and outlets remains a priority.