In the first half of 2022, people in the Netherlands ate four percent fewer fruit and vegetables at home than in the pre-pandemic year 2019, GroentenFruit Huis recently reported. Six percent less fruit and vegetables were purchased than in 2021's first six months. In Particular, bananas, pears, and melons were less popular. That is, despite the relatively average inflation, a reasonably moderate two percent price increase. Some fruits even became cheaper. A kilogram of apples, for instance, costs seven percent less.
Still, shoppers did not buy more, in fact they purchased four percent fewer apples. The Belgian Farmers' Union agrees that apple consumption is declining. These lower consumption figures do not bode well for the European top fruit sector and all the other challenges it already faces. Pricing is one: cost prices are skyrocketing, while market forces determine selling prices. That means these prices do not or insufficiently factor in things like rising storage, labor, and packaging materials costs.
Rising electricity price
Besides staff shortages, rising electricity prices are one of the challenges the World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA) recently mentioned in a press release. "The skyrocketing electricity price is another problem. That could drive up storage facility costs to unsustainable levels for growers. Several growers could be forced to not harvest some of their crops to avoid the economic impact. Storage costs and expected yields lower than the total cost of production cause that." WAPA says it is gravely concerned about the final harvest and growers' competitiveness. It sees a potential threat to the industry's business continuity.
Smaller sizes
Also, this season, climate change again played a role. It has affected fruit size, WAPA reports. "August's intense weather conditions (heat- waves and drought in some regions) negatively impacted part of the crop's size and color. That will likely mean more fruit will go to the processing sector."
The weather did not only affect sizes but the overall harvest. WAPA revised its European apple harvest estimate downward to 12 million tons and assumed that, by mid-September, 90,000 tons fewer apples would have been harvested than was expected in early August. That is mainly because many countries, except Poland and the Czech Republic, revised their estimates downward, particularly France, Italy, and Spain.
