EU average apple prices remain relatively stable within a high band range (more than 30% above historical average. The next crop could be small due to very important frost damages this spring.
During the ongoing marketing year, prices remain firm above the historical reference period, as expected, due to a small crop, especially in France and Poland (fresh product). Although the fresh market is doing well, some tensions are observed in the market of apples for processing in Poland with high levels of supply (the opposite in France); there is a relatively higher proportion of apples of lower quality or damaged by extreme weather events that can only go to the industry, especially in Poland.
The new marketing year (2020/21) started on 1 August 2020. WAPA/Prognosfruit delivered production forecasts for 21 Member States. The volume of the EU27 crop is estimated to be around 10 585 thousand tonnes; the UK represents around 2% of the EU27 crop. We have indications pointing to a fresh volume of the Polish crop even smaller than initially expected for reasons of extreme weather events and absence of sufficient labour connected to the sanitary crisis.
The volume of the ongoing crop is 1% below the preceding small crop and 7% less than the 5 year reference average. During the ongoing period 2020/21 (Aug to Dec), exports and imports were respectively 6% and 2% below the 5 year reference period average.