The World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA) has lower its European apple forecast for 2022-23 due to hot weather in August and soaring costs.

The first estimates that were released in early August have been revised downwards due to the "intense weather conditions" at the end of the month that affected the colouring and size of a part of the crop.

"The resulting quality issues will also impact the percentage of the crop destined for processing. The development of the lower-than-expected crop will also be influenced by the skyrocketing electricity prices, which might prevent growers from picking a part of their crop due to the unaffordable storage costs as well as the shortage of seasonal workers," it said.

WAPA, the World Apple and Pear Association, has published a first update of the European apple crop forecast for the upcoming season, which was first published during Prognosfruit 2022.

The first indications from the orchards suggest that the European apple crop will be reduced to 12,076,000 tons, about 90,000 tons smaller than August’s forecast (12,168,000 tons), with most countries except Poland and the Czech Republic revising their original estimates downwards – in particular France, Italy, and Spain.

In the U.S. as well the crop was revised downwards following the USApples annual event in Chicago, with an estimated apple crop of 4.6 million tons.