“Polish farmers did not deliver apples to the Romanian market as they did in other years because they were affected by floods and other weather hazards,” says Ioan Ormenisan, general manager of Sucmeron Reghin, a major local producer, which has 230 hectares of apple orchards.
The domestic apple harvest amounted to 422,000 tons last year, up 11% against the previous year, with 2010 being the best year since 2006. Romania, which is the sixth largest producer in the EU, was, alongside Spain and Greece, one of the few European Union countries to record increases in its apple harvest.
The domestic production of Poland, the second-largest producer in the EU, fell 24% last year to 1.9 million tons, while Hungarian farmers harvested 480,000 tons, down 5% against the previous year, according to estimates made by the World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA), which includes the main producers worldwide. Data also show last year 15 of the 27 EU economies saw declines of up to 33% of their domestic apple production against the preceding year.
Under the circumstances, companies in Western Europe turned towards Romanian apples, which led to an over seven-fold surge in exports in one year.
While in other years, almost the entire domestic apple harvest ended up on local market stalls, as well as on the shelves of big stores, last year saw 27,000 tons exported, 6% of domestic production. As a result, the short supply of apples on the Romanian market pushed prices up.
“Lately the price of a kilo of apples went up by around 30% to 40%. The price of apples rose because of the high demand on the international market,” explains Simona Radu, manager of Mar de Sibiu, which operates 370 hectares of orchard. The farm’s apple production stands at 6,000 tons.
Currently, in Bucharest hypermarkets, a kilo of apples costs 5.2 lei (EUR1.24), 40% more than a year ago, according to data in the Food Index put together by ZF at the end of June. ZF calculations are also confirmed by data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, which show than in the second half of June a kilo of apples cost between RON4 and RON6.
The increase in the price of apples is surprising considering that the domestic apple production accounts for nearly 4% of the overall EU production, which be able to should cover domestic consumption, according to ministry data.
“The problem with the price of fruit and vegetables, apples included, is not related to supply, but to market distribution. Not only in Romania, but also in the EU, the distribution chains distort the end price,” Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Valeriu Tabara explained yesterday.
(EUR1=RON4.1817)