U.S. total apple holdings have remained consistently high so far this year, holding steady at 15% up year-on-year, while EU stocks have seen further declines and are now 21% down.

As of April 1 in the U.S., there were 81.7m bushels of apples in storage, up from 71.3m last year. This year's figure is also 8% above the five-year average.

Fresh holdings specifically were registered at 58.7m, which is also 15% up year-on-year. But it is only fractionally higher than the 2017 figure for April of 57.7m.

Processed holdings came in at 23m bushels, up 12% year-on-year, and slightly below the 23.5m registered at the same point in the 2017 season.

Breaking down fresh holdings of the varieties as of April 1:

• Fuji is at 7.7m bushels (6.2m in 2019, 7.2m in 2018)
• Gala is at 12.3m bushels (9.8m in 2019, 10.7m in 2018)
• Golden Delicious is at 4.3m bushels (2.3m in 2019, 3.8m in 2018)
• Granny Smith is at 8m bushels (6m in 2019, 10.1m in 2018)
• Honeycrisp is at 4.5m bushels (3.8m in 2019, 3.3m in 2018)
• Pink Lady/Cripps Pink is at 2.9m bushels (2.9m in 2019, 3.3m in 2018)
• Red Delicious is at 13.6m bushels (15m in 2019, 15.6m in 2018)

In Europe as of March 1, total apple holdings from the top 11 production countries were registered at 125m bushels, compared to 158m last year and 91m in 2018.

In terms of total apple holdings, Golden Delicious had the largest volumes by far, with 42.3m, down 3% year-on-year.

Gala was down by 12% at 9.8m, Jondagold was down 28% at 6.9m, Idared was down 53% at 6.4, Red Delicious was down 16% at 5.5m, Fuji was down 11% at 5.3m, and Granny Smith was down 10% at 5.2m.