The World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA) has forecast apple and pear crops to drop slightly for 2020 compared to last season in the Southern Hemisphere. Predictions reflect the "consequences of climatic havocs" that have impacted production this year, outlines the report released this Monday.

Countries in the hemisphere - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa - expect relatively stable but slightly lower apple and pear production as compared to 2019. Industry bodies across the hemisphere expect apple crop to reach 5m metric tons (MT) and pear crop to hit 1.3mMT.

While weather difficulties affected production, the association expects apple exports to remain stable at 1.725m metric tons (MT). Exports of pears from the region will likely dip by 2% from last year, coming in at 691,660MT.

Apple production

What this means for the apple industry is a small year-on-year decrease of 1%. Notably, only two countries in the region are forecast to see fewer apples for 2020 - Australia and Chile - while in comparison, WAPA expects that all other producing countries will remain stable or increase in production.

Of the countries in the region, Australia saw the most significant decline in production - with a forecast 11% decrease in apple volumes from last season. Chile will also likely experience a decrease in crops of about 8% year-on-year.

New Zealand apple production, in contrast, is actually expected to rise 6% from 2019. All other countries in the Southern Hemisphere will probably remain stable in production or increase - like, for example, South Africa and Brazil who expect 5% and 4% increases respectively.

Pears in the region

As for the pear industry, WAPA forecast a drop of 3% in crop compared to 2019. Pear industries in the region were more universally effected by poor conditions as all countries across the Southern Hemisphere anticipate lower volumes than in 2019.

Rather than seeing an increase in crop like with its apples, New Zealand is forecast 12% down in pear production from last year. Australia and South Africa will see the least impacted pear figures, both declining by 1% in volumes year-on-year.

Shown below are WAPA figures on the specific apple and pear varieties in production across time.

Statistics and tables from The World Apple and Pear Association.