Ongoing EU27 2021/22 apple crop estimated at 11,777 tons

The ongoing 2021/22 apple crop for EU27 has been estimated at 11,777 tons [as a January 2022 update]. This is 6,7% higher than the preceding 5-year average and 11 % above the ‘small’ crop of the past marketing year.

After two years of below-average crop volumes and relatively high prices, the ongoing marketing year is registering prices coming to normal levels or even below in some cases; in the case of Poland, the embargo of Belarus has implied higher stocks than expected; the crisis package is expected to have a positive impact. Export logistics is a huge challenge in many parts of the world, but the EU is relatively less affected by that situation.

The first year of the pandemics registered strong demand and came back to normal levels in the second year. However, the sector faces several challenges temporarily, mainly rising input costs (especially energy, transportation fees, and other farm inputs), bottlenecks and high costs on the road a vessel transport (high maritime freight rates), and of course labor shortages (especially for harvesting and lorry drivers).

Ongoing EU27 2021/22 apple crop estimated at 11,777 tons PDF