Small apple crop, but difficult start to the season

10-8-2026

The 27 EU Member States expect an apple crop of 9.5 million tonnes this year.

This is the lowest volume in almost ten years. The forecast crop is 15.6% smaller than in 2025 and 14.3% below the average for 2023 to 2025.

Good news, it would seem. However, at the Prognosfruit congress on 6 August, Ursula Schockemöhle of the German agricultural market information service Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (AMI) tempered what may have been high expectations. “This year, we are facing large European stocks, moderate demand and low prices,” she told the congress.

At the beginning of July, around 634,000 tonnes of apples from the 2025 crop were still in storage in the EU. According to AMI figures, this was the largest stock in seven years. It consisted mainly of Golden Delicious (199,000 tonnes), apples from the Jonagold group (141,000 tonnes) and other varieties (294,000 tonnes). Large stocks almost invariably put pressure on prices for the first apples of the new crop.

Later in the season, however, declining stocks, a smaller European apple crop and limited availability of premium-quality fruit due to drought damage could help prices recover.

Declining consumption

One cause for concern is declining apple consumption. According to Schockemöhle, per-capita consumption in Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Italy fell in 2025 compared with the 2022-2024 period. The decline was particularly marked in Italy. (Sources: AMI, Fruchthandel.de)