European apple crops may be down this year by 9% to 7,497,000 tonnes. But producers have claimed that there is an international crisis ahead because of an explosion in world production. That's the view of Noel Devisch, president of the Belgian NFU and COPACogeca, the European growers' association which hosted Prognosfruit. The annual meeting shared his concern over increasing southern hemisphere crops and also the potential massive impact of Chile which now accounts for around 40% of all fruit grown and is already looking for export markets. Attempts to stabilise the situation have led to the formation of a new trade organisation, so far without the participation of the Chinese, called the World Apple and Pear Association. Formalised at the Prognosfruit conference, its first role is to review the current supply and demand situation through a 12-strong working party which will assess key concerns over the next six months. EU TOP FRUIT TRENDS - TONNES (all varieties incl culinary) Country 2001-2002 Annual change Five year average Italy 2,035,931 -8 -4 France 2,030,000 -10 No change Germany 890,000 -21 -7 Spain 880,685 26 13 UK 216,000 11 1 Netherlands 475,000 -5 -7 Belgium 311,370 -38 -26 Greece 216,700 -25 -30 Portugal 240,000 17 5 Denmark 30,000 -4 -3 Ireland 5,000 No change -32 Luxembourg 3,000 No change -5 Austria 142,000 -12 -3 Sweden 20,650 -12 4 Total 7,497,000 -9 -4 {{M/E FRESH PRODUCE }}

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