Dry weather causes fall in Netherlands apple and pear harvest estimates of 5 to 10%

Due to the extremely dry weather in the Netherlands, the harvest estimate for apples and pears has been reduced. This means that there is a real chance that the fruit size on which original estimates were based will not be achieved. As a result, the estimate of the beginning of July has been adjusted downwards by 5 to 10%. The impact of the drought is more visible with pears than with apples. Assuming a 10% reduction estimate for both species, the new figure for apple volumes would be 233,000 tons and 358,000 tons for pears.

Another effect of the dry weather is that the harvest date will be brought forward. The estimate for the start of Conference and Elstar harvest is between 22 and 25 August. Meanwhile, other EU countries such as Belgium, Germany, Poland and Austria are also struggling with the drought. For those countries, too, harvest estimates are likely to be downscaled.