Spring frosts and hail caused significant damage to the fruit production in Russia and Belarus. Crops such as apples and pears have been hit particularly hard. In some regions, some local analysts claim, they are reported losses of up to 70% of the potential harvestalthough overall a decrease in production of 30-35% can be expected.
As Foglietv reports, a deterioration of the quality of the fruit, which will have a direct negative impact on the ability to preserve these fruits. Therefore, by the spring of 2025it is very likely that i Apple prices in Belarus and Russia break all records precedents.
Russia, where the blockade on imports from certain European countries and beyond continues, buys apples from, among other things Serbia. However, Serbian exporters are now actively diversifying their exports, preferring to ship their products to richer countries where consumers are willing to pay higher prices for a high-quality product. Therefore, exports of Serbian apples to Russia are decreasing every year, while exports to countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Great Britain, India, Qatar, Malaysia and EU countries, on the contrary, they are growing.
In the last two years, the apple imports from Türkiye, from Iran and Azerbaijan vRussia and Belarus are increase significantly. However, Turkey can sell its high-quality apples at a higher price to India, so only those apples that are rejected by India enter the Russian market, and even these apples are not cheap. Iran has serious problems with the quality of apples and the transportation costs of such apples are high. Therefore, Iranian apples in no way solve the problem of Russia and Belarus. Azerbaijani apples are grown and exported in relatively small quantities to solve these huge deficits.
In addition to these countries, Russia also resumed importing apples from China in 2022 after several years of China’s ban from its market due to safety concerns. However, the cost of transporting apples from China is high, and China has ceased to be a cheap source of fruit in recent years due to improving product quality and rapid growth in demand for apples in Asia.
Importing apples from Southern Hemisphere countries, such as South Africa, Chile, New Zealand, etc., is very expensive. These countries are very distant geographically; they sell apples at high prices due to the mirroring of the seasons, and they will cost even more in the new season.
The apple harvest in Europe in 2024 could be low again. Moreover, it is possible that it will be even lower than in 2023. Accordingly, it will be almost impossible to find cheap apples, even if the focus is on low-quality products, as Russia and Belarus have done in recent years. Global prices of apple juice concentrate remain at a high level, which leads to an increase in prices in the segment of low-priced apples, which previously ended up on the fresh market and are now being processed.
Consequentially, apple prices in Russia and Belarus they are already growing rapidly and in the new season they will most likely break all previous records.
