According to estimates, the apple harvest in the European Union (EU) will be 11.3% lower this year than last year and around 8% lower in Croatia, the World Apple and Pear Growers Association (WAPA) reported at the recent Prognosfruit conference in Budapest.

According to the President of the Croatian Fruit Growers Association (HVZ), Branimir Markota, the current situation in apple warehouses and apple concentrate as an important raw material for the production of all types of juices, information on the planned harvests by country and the direction of production were presented at the conference.

Markota said that about 10.2 million kilogrammes of apples are expected to be harvested in the EU this year, which is 11% less than in 2023 and 13% less than the average of the last three years. A harvest of 61,000 tonnes is predicted for Croatia, a decrease of around 8% compared to the previous year, when 66,500 tonnes were harvested.

Apple production has been declining for several years

The 2023/2024 season is coming to an end and stocks in cold stores are very low. There is a real possibility to export to non-European countries and growers could be satisfied with the initial situation, but unfortunately the prices for last year’s apples are not reasonable for growers,” said Markota.

He also notes that all indicators for apple production have been declining for several years, especially in Europe. The area under apples has fallen by around 10% in recent years and production is 11% lower than last year and more than 13% below the three-year average.

In several EU countries, apple production has fallen sharply in the last three years – in Austria by 54%, in Belgium by 42%, in the Czech Republic by 79%, in Germany by 21%, in Hungary by 26% and in Poland by 25%.