The Polish apple season came early this year, says Emilia Lewandowska, office manager for Fruit-Group: "This year, we've had an earlier start of the Polish apples season, about ten days earlier than usual. At this moment, we've started picking the fresh Gala crop in this week. A year ago, the Gala would start showing up in our company around the 28th of September, which is a significant difference. The weather in Poland is like a rollercoaster. We had many weeks of drought and high temperatures, and recently we've endured strong rainfall. This rain flooded parts of the cities in central Poland, as well as in the south yesterday. A positive development is that the low temperatures and sunny days are good for the blushing of the apples."
Over the course of the past couple of months, Poland has had to deal with quite some challenges with the weather, Lewandowska explains. "We had heatwaves in May, June, July and August. It was demanding weather, as we were touched by drought as a result. The climate is changing, and it is proven by agriculture production. It's now possible to start the production of watermelons in Poland, so the changes in the climate are becoming more and more visible."
Lewandowska expects some more hardships for the new apple season, but demand could be really strong from multiple sources as well: "It's hard to speak on possible opportunities, when we know that this apple season will be rather unstable. There could be great demand from Germany, Czech Republic and the processing industry. At this point in time, the prices for apples are higher than they were at the start of the previous season."
European apple production will decrease this year, and Lewandowska emphasizes this is no different for Polish apples. "There are still a lot of question marks before the season. We know that in Europe there will be lower production for apples this year. For Poland specifically, we expect to have about 20 per cent less production than we had in 2023. For Jonagold and Idared, these varieties will gain in size. The trees are not filled, so apples of the caliber 60-75 will be hard to obtain for these specific varieties."
More investments are done to alleviate the costs of production: "In the last two years, we have obtained new contacts, with whom we would like to continue cooperation and develop larger quantities with them. We are also looking for solutions for mechanical harvesting. More and more growers are investing in solar panels as well, to offset the high energy prices. Another part of the process we need to look at is the management of water resources in Poland. Overall, I hope that the upcoming season won't be chaotic, and the sales won't drop massively," Lewandowska concludes.
For more information:
Emilia Lewandowska
Fruit-Group SP.z.o.o.
Email: [email protected]
www.fruitgroup.pl