Dutch apple growers have been warned that 50% of them could go out of business in the next five years unless prices improve. Cees de Jongh, chairman of the fruit sector of the farmers union, claimed they were already making a loss of between 8p/9p per kg on harvested fruit. The only alternative was to integrate the crop with more pear production where prices seemed to be holding. The Dutch industry supports 2,000 producers which grow 510,000 tonnes, mainly Jonagold, Elstar and Cox exported to the UK. Annual shipment figures are in the region of 30,000 tonnes. {{FRESH PRODUCE }}

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