One of Europe's leading apple suppliers, Italian company VOG, has confirmed it will continue to invest in expanding production of licensed varieties including Kanzi, Jazz and Envy this year, while also stepping up its marketing efforts across Europe and beyond.
According to director Gerhard Dichgans, the consortium expects to see larger volumes of all three branded apples this season, boosting its offer alongside more established trademarked line Pink Lady.
Dichgans confirmed that production of Kanzi and Jazz, its two most recent additions to the Italian apple market, had risen. 'In 2013/14 we will be able to intensify our work on distributing them in Italy and in Europe,' he commented.
Working with international topfruit marketer Enza, VOG is also assessing the potential to increase its output of other new varieties.
'On top of this, we have also started planting another promising variety, Scilate,' Dichgans added. 'Sold in collaboration with Enza under the name Envy, [it] offers remarkable organoleptic qualities, and will soon be making quite a name for itself.'
Dichgans said he expected to see a good balance between demand and supply this season on the back of a return to what are being described as 'normal' harvested volumes.
Following a 2012/13 season in which apples were comparatively scarce due to a sharp fall in production across western Europe, with prices fluctuating as a result for much of the campaign, he said he was upbeat about the recent forecast statistics published at the annual Prognosfruit meeting, held in Prague during the second week of August.
'In 2012 we saw a drop of 9 per cent in European apple production, with peaks – in the case of France – reaching up to minus 30 per cent,' he recalled. 'Total European production fell below the 10m-tonnes mark, far less than its real productive capacity.'
This year's seasonal forecast anticipates a return to a so-called 'on-tree' total of around 10.8m tonnes, buoyed by normal levels of production in all of western Europe's major supply countries and despite the likelihood of average apple size being smaller.
In eastern Europe, meanwhile, major supplier Poland is set to produce more than 3m tonnes of apples for the second time, confirming its position as the largest producer of the fruit in the EU-28.
'Given the return to 'normal' harvest volumes across Europe, prices too will return to normal, encouraging a more regular destocking rate of larger stocks,' he predicted. 'But I foresee prices staying as they are through the late summer and the first months of autumn.'
This year's first Italian Gala, which arrived on the market nearly ten days late, reportedly met with 'very lively' demand, both from Italy and abroad.
'A major cause for this was the early end of last season's Golden stocks, along with the offer from abroad dwindling to a trickle.'
Click here to read the full interview with Gerhard Dichgans.
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