Blue Whale commercial export director Marc Peyres says quality is promising for the upcoming apple season, which like much of Europe could yield a slighty lower crop and benefit from a currency perspective when it comes to exports.

Peyres told www.freshfruitportal.com the new French crop would be delayed by one week compared with normal timing.

"We will start to harvest the first Royal Galas in small quantities next week in Provence and probably not before week 33 in the southwest of France which is the biggest area for French Royal Galas," he said.

"So far quality is promising as weather conditions have been good for a month and we do not expect excessive temperatures from now until the harvest.

"But weather can change fast as you know. Last year an exceptional storm in late August created big losses."

He said the total crop in France was looking to be about 5% less, and could perhaps fall by "a bit more  as some areas has suffered in spring".

"This situation looks quite similar to most of the European countries. It means that we should not have a big crop for international varieties but just under normal.

"Only Poland announce a big increase compared with last season, but is always very difficult to understand statistics there and the impact on our fresh market.

"For our main varieties today in Blue Whale, Poland's crop has an impact but not as big as we can fear in my opinion.

"We will have the release of the European crop this week in Hamburg [in Prognosfruit] and we can be - for our situation as French growers - quite optimistic for the coming crop.

"We have some good positive points in our side like the exchange rate with a normal euro for the international market, good prospects for quality and a good balance of demand and supply for our main varieties like Gala, Fuji, Granny and Chantecler, and the good development of new brands like Pink Lady and Joya."

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