Marlene VOG apples

Italian apple consortium VOG has announced a 14 per cent increase in turnover to €450m for 2007/08, thanks in the main to favourable market conditions resulting from a major fall in Polish production last season.

At a press conference held yesterday evening, company officials revealed that VOG had marketed a total of 552,646 tonnes of fresh apples during the course of the previous campaign.

“For 2008/09, we won't be able to repeat last season's results,' commented VOG director Gerhard Dichgans, 'but we do expect to have a normal commercial year thanks to the excellent quality of harvested fruit. Looking at the crop forecasts for western Europe, which are slightly down on 2007, and at the full crop in eastern countries, I don't expect any big surprises during the second part of the campaign, or indeed the price jumps seen last summer.'

In the Italian market, the group said it had sold a total of 270,000 tonnes of apples, 13 per cent more than in 2006/07. The campaign was also notable for an early conclusion, around a month earlier than normal.

With more than 280,000 tonnes of apples sold in markets outside Italy, meanwhile, VOG's export department has also seen positive results, particularly in Scandinavia, where its sales rose 32 per cent year-on-year to 41,000 tonnes; in Spain and Portugal, where volumes were up 19 per cent to 21,000 tonnes; and in the countries of eastern Europe.

In Germany, however, the company saw its sales decline by 10 per cent as a result of a record harvest in the Elba region, which exerted strong pressure on apple prices across what is VOG's largest European market after Italy.

But the company's directors insisted that this downturn had been more than compensated by the opportunities which had presented themselves in other northern and Mediterranean markets.

» VOG appoints new president to replace Matthias Josef Gamper