Cooler summer temperatures and hailstorms have cut expectations for the New Zealand apple crop, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Although early indications were for a near-record New Zealand apple crop in 2020-21, a number of factors have tempered expectations, and production is now estimated to have slumped 8% from the previous year to 543,000 metric tons,” the May 12 report said. “Two of these factors have been hailstorms causing widespread damage in key apple areas, as well as generally smaller-sized apples this year due to a cooler summer.”
In addition to reduced production, the USDA report said the impact on exports is made worse by severe labor shortages during harvest.
“Because of these shortages, orchardists were not able to do the number of harvest picks in each orchard block necessary to maximize the proportion of export quality fruit,” the report said.
Labor shortages, according to the report, were brought about by the New Zealand government’s COVID-19 response, including limiting slots available for short-term foreign workers in mandatory 14-day quarantine on arrival, and international border closures.
“The severely reduced labor supply for harvesting has stopped orchardists from completing three to five picks, which maximizes fruit size and quality,” the report said. “Instead, many growers are getting only one or two picks focused on export-quality fruit, and then mopping up all the remaining apples at a later stage and sending them direct to processing.”
That means more New Zealand apples are expected to flow into processing this year, the report said.
The USDA said growers faced a harvesting and packing staffing shortfall of 20% to 25% as a result of the international border closures.
Fresh apple exports are expected to be reduced by 14% compared with a year ago, down from just over 400,000 metric tons in 2019-20 to about 345,000 metric tons for the 2020-21 season.
Acreage outlook
The USDA report said apple harvested area in New Zealand for 2020-21 is estimated at about 25,000 acres, up 1% compared with 2019-20.
The report said tree nurseries in New Zealand have consistently been producing new trees each year that would equate to approximately 5% to 6% of total planted area.
“Over the past six years, the majority of new trees were planted into new orchards, expanding overall area,” the USDA said. “However, industry analysts are anticipating that this trend may reverse this year, with the majority of new trees being used for replanting and not for expanding apple acreage.”
The report said Apples and Pears NZ is forecasting braeburn export-quality production will be reduced by over 40%. Royal gala varieties, cripps pink, and fuji apple export-quality production is likely to be down by 15% to 20%.
“In contrast, the newer varieties such as Envy, Dazzle, Honeycrisp, and Rockit will continue to show strong volume growth as new plantings come into production,” the report said.