The apple harvest in Germany amounted to around one million tonnes last year, with the harvest volume roughly in line with 2020 levels (-1.8%), according to data from the Federal Statistics Office.
In terms of the long-term average for 2011 to 2020, the apple harvest in 2021 was 4.6% higher.
The two largest apple-growing regions in Germany are Altes Land (Lower Saxony and Hamburg) and Lake Constance (Baden-Württemberg).
With a harvest volume of 344,900 tonnes, Baden-Württemberg contributed the highest volume, followed by Lower Saxony at 291,100 tonnes.
The harvest volume for both states is more than 9% higher than the long-term average for the years 2011 to 2020.
More than three quarters (76.1%) of the apples harvested in Germany (764,500 tonnes) were sold as fruit, while 22.8% (228 700 tonnes) were used as processing or industrial fruit, for the production of fruit juice, canned food, or cider.
The remaining 11,500 tonnes were used for personal consumption, or as storage or processing losses and were not marketed.
Plum Output
Elsewhere, the plum harvest in Germany fell by 14.3% year-on-year in 2021 to 39,900 tonnes, from 46,500 tonnes in 2020.
However, the harvest volume was above the preliminary estimate of 34,000 tonnes, forecast in July 2021.
Unfavourable weather conditions due to late frosts hampered the output despite an almost constant cultivation area compared with 2020.
The average harvest volume in the past ten years saw a 13.7% decline, to 46,200 tonnes.
Harvests from Rhineland-Palatinate amounted to 13,700 tonnes, while Baden-Württemberg contributed 10,000 tonnes.
In total, the harvest volume from these two states comprised almost 60% of the total German plum harvest.
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Apples comprised around 89.3% of the total tree fruit harvest of 1.1 million tonnes in 2021, while the share of the plum and plum harvest was 3.5%, data showed.
In addition, 37,200 tonnes of pears (3.3%), 27,300 tonnes of sweet cherries (2.4%), 11,000 tonnes of sour cherries (1.0%), and 4,600 tonnes of mirabelle plums and red cloves (0.4%) were harvested in Germany.
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Dayeeta Das. For more Fresh Produce news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
