During its Annual General Meeting at Fruit Logistica, the World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA) released the Southern Hemisphere apple and pear crop projection for next season.

According to the forecast, which gathers data from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa, apple and pear production will have a year-on-year increase of  6% and 1%, respectively.

For apples, the Southern Hemisphere aggregate crop forecast for 2023 suggests a total of 5.1 million tons compared to last year's 4.8 million.

All countries forecast a larger apple crop except Australia (-8% over 2022). Argentina's production is forecast to increase by 24% to 525,000 million tons. Chile remains the largest producer with 1.4 million, followed by South Africa (1.2 million), Brazil (1.1 million), New Zealand (536,000), Argentina, and Australia.

With 1.8 million tons, the Gala variety remains by far the most popular, and its production is expected to increase by 6% year-on-year.

Exports are also expected to increase by 5% year-on-year, to reach 1.68 million tons.

Exports from New Zealand and Argentina are expected to increase by 8% and 31%, respectively. Brazil's exports are expected to rebound from low 2022 figures to reach 70,000 tons, while Australia's exports are 1% below 2022 figures.

Numbers for the pear season

Regarding pears, producers in the Southern Hemisphere are forecasting 1.3 million tons.

Argentina and Chile are expected to increase their production by 4% and 2%, respectively. South Africa's production is expected to remain stable, while that of Australia and New Zealand is expected to decrease by 16%.

Argentina remains the largest producer in the southern hemisphere with 592,000 million tons, followed by South Africa (506,000 MT), Chile (170,000 MT), Australia (72,000 MT), and New Zealand (8,000 MT).

Packham's Triumph remains the most-produced variety (488,000 T, up slightly by 1% over 2021), followed by Williams' bon chrétien pears (342,000 T).

Export figures are expected to increase by 4% compared to 2022 to a total of 698,994 T, mainly due to a 12% increase in Argentinian exports.

European apple stocks stood at 4,051,645 tons as of January 1, 2023, down 6% from 2022. The total of 648,071 tons of European pears was 2% lower than the previous year's figures. Stock figures were also lower in the U.S., down 4% in apples (to a total of 1.6 million tons) and 2% in pears (to a total of 168,353 tons).

During the Annual General Meeting, Dominik Woźniak from the Society for Promotion of Dwarf Fruit Orchards in Rajpol - Poland, and Jeff Correa from Pear Bureau Northwest in the U.S. were confirmed as President and Vice President of WAPA.

Finally, the AGM also confirmed that Prognosfruit will be held in Trentino, Italy, August 3-5, 2023. More information about the event will be announced soon on the Prognosfruit website (www.prognosfruit.eu).

This report has been prepared with the support of ASOEX (Chile), CAFI (Argentina), ABPM (Brazil), Hortgro (South Africa), APAL (Australia), and New Zealand Apples and Pears, thus providing consolidated data for the six main producing countries in the Southern Hemisphere.