According to WAPA, the World Apple & Pear Association, the most important apple producing countries in the southern hemisphere are picking 5.6% more apples this year than last year. Compared with the average over the past three years, the volume of the crop turns out to be 3% higher. The 2022 crop was the smallest in the past 10 years. The 5,131,000 tonnes estimated for this year is a more or less normal crop size.
What is remarkable is the 12% bigger crop in Brazil and the 24% bigger crop compared with last year in Argentina.
Pear production is about the same as last year. The big pear producing countries, Argentina and South Africa, are expected to pick 5% more than last year and respectively the same as last year.
For the time being, there is no need to be afraid in Europe, that apples and pears from the southern hemisphere are going to come our way on a massive scale. As a rule, for exporters, other markets, such as the United States and Asia are more interesting export destinations than Europe.