According to revised data of the World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA), a number of European Union countries have harvested much fewer apples than previously predicted, reports "APK-Inform: Vegetables and Fruits". Experts of the association say that the greatest decrease has been observed in Romania, but the apple harvests in Poland, France and Spain are also smaller than earlier predicted.
Thus, the fruit's total harvest in Romania has been 5% smaller than expected. Meanwhile, Poland has harvested 4% less than WAPA predicted in August, and France and Spain have recorded 3% and 2.4% decreases, respectively.
At the same time, it is worth noting that producers in Austria and the Czech Republic have managed to significantly exceed the forecasted results in August. Thus, the gross apple production in the Czech Republic is 17% higher than expected, while that of Austria is as much as 82% greater than anticipated.
However, the overall outlook for EU countries is to produce 2% less than originally expected. The harvest of this fruit in the 2016/17 season has reached 11.766 million tonnes, which is 5% less than in the previous season and 1% less than the average of the past 5 years. It is worth recalling that in August, WAPA predicted a total gross harvest in the European Union at the level of 12.006 million tonnes.
