Sharp downturn in major apple varieties

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Prognosfruit 2010

The commercial prospects for this year's EU apple crop, forecast to be down 11 per cent on the previous season and – at an estimated 9.8m tonnes – the second-lowest harvest for 15 years, are likely to be influenced greatly by an anticipated fall in production of all the continent's major varieties.

According to forecasts published at the end of last week during the annual Prognosfruit meeting, which was held this year in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, volumes of the most common varieties – including Golden Delicious, Gala, Idared, Jonagold and Red Delicious – will all be down significantly on last season.

Notable decreases in production of Idared, Shampion and Golden Delicious will account largely for an overall 24 per cent downturn in Poland's apple output this time around.

In Italy, overall production is set to fall 3 per cent to 2.17m tonnes, with a similar 4 per cent decrease in France to 1.58m tonnes.

Apple crops in Germany (down 17 per cent to 890,000 tonnes) and the Netherlands (-24 per cent, 1.98m tonnes) are also predicted to be smaller.

Meanwhile, Belgium's apple crop is expected to shrink by 27 per cent on last year to 251,000 tonnes, perhaps the biggest casualty of a pan-European decline in production of Jonagold and Jonagored across Europe.

Across the EU-27, Golden Delicious volumes are set to fall 8 per cent to 2.43m tonnes, Gala volumes by 7 per cent to 1m tonnes and Red Delicious by 8 per cent to 663,000 tonnes, all compared with the previous season.

Volumes of European Idared, Jonagold, Granny Smith, Elstar and Braeburn are also set to fall (see table below).

Bucking the trend in terms of varieties is Fuji, production of which is forecast to rise by 3 per cent year-on-year to 254,000 tonnes.

The only other varieties set to grow this season in Europe are Morgendurf (also known as Imperatore) which will recover from an off year in 2009 by rising 34 per cent to 89,000 tonnes, and the relatively minor cultivar Stayman, set to rise 7 per cent to 17,000 tonnes.

Click here to download a summary of the 2010 EU apple and pear forecasts, including country and variety breakdowns

EU-27 apple production (selected varieties, tonnes)

Variety	2009	F2010	+/-
Braeburn	338,000	291,000	-14
Elstar	487,000	369,000	-24
Gala	1,079,000	1,002,000	-7
Golden Delicious	2,630,000	2,427,000	-8
Granny Smith	340,000	316,000	-7
Idared	797,000	597,000	-25
Jonagold	735,000	515,000	-30
Red Delicious	724,000	663,000	-8