"The Apple in the World" conference will form a key focus for discussing challenges facing one of the world's most popular fruits during Interpoma, to be held from November 24-26 in Bolzano, Italy. 

With difficulties like the Russian embargo on EU fruit and shifting consumer preferences, apple industry experts will converge on Bolzano in the Italian Alps in November to work out how best to adapt to a new reality for the sector.

"Today it’s not so much the needs of consumers that have changed, but rather their age," said event organizer Kurt Werth in a release.

"For example, in Germany, a traditional outlet market for many apple producers, the older generation has not been completely replaced by the new one, inasmuch as young people consume fewer apples. We therefore had to look for new markets, such as North Africa and others."

Werth also pointed to the problems of competition between Western and Eastern Europe.

"Even if, for Western Europe, exports of apples to Russia were of relative importance, with the continuing embargo Poland is pushing increasingly towards the West," he said.

"I was recently in Russia for three weeks, where I visited several cities, and in the supermarkets I only saw New Zealand apples."

Werth highlighted a need to improve issues of logistics and efficiency in processing as well.

"Since the forecasts of this year are very similar to those of 2015, the game will be played in terms of quality and the efficiency of operators," he said.

"Therefore in the South Tyrol we can have a leading role: if we get an email from Helsinki asking for five different varieties of apples, after three hours they are already leaving by truck, whereas in other production concerns this doesn’t happen."

It is also important to consider the varietal aspect. Prognosfruit figures for the EU show a likely decrease in the production of Golden Delicious, which is by far the most cultivated type of apple.

Volume for this apple is set to go down by 7% to 2.364 million metric tons (MT), followed by Gala (-4%; 1.329 million MT) and Idared (-6%; 1.064 million MT).

"If the forecasts are more or less confirmed, this year is going to be a normal production," he said.

"But beware: it can be misleading to speak only of quantity, without introducing the idea of quality. With controlled quantities, the club varieties, like Pink Lady, Kanzi and Jazz, already cost three times as much as older varieties such as Golden and others.

"The same main variety produced in Poland, i.e. the Idared, are a fifth of the value compared to the club varieties mentioned. Clearly, the issue of quantity is very relative and can be misleading if other important factors are not considered."

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