Representatives of the key global apple and pear producing and exporting countries met to discuss the Southern Hemisphere production forecast, the final update of the Northern Hemishpere, welcomed new members and elected a new president and vice-president. All in all, the meeting was well attended, with many topics to discuss.

WAPA also discussed and released the consolidated crop forecasts for the forthcoming southern hemisphere apple and pear seasons. Collected from industry associations in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa, the forecast showed that the 2017 apple and pear Southern Hemisphere crops are expected to reach 5.430.000 MT and 1.341.000 MT, respectively.

For apples, this represents an increase of 9% on the 2016 crop, mainly because of a normalised crop again in Brazil. Forecasted export figures remain stable at 1.665.483 MT.

For pears, a decrease of 2% on the 2016 crop is recorded while forecasted export figures are expected to have decreased with 6% at 656.479 MT.

The meeting also was an opportunity to welcome two new WAPA members, namely the China Chamber of Commerce of Import & Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce & Animal By-Products, as well as the Ukrsadprom Association from the Ukraine. WAPA is pleased to welcome these two countries as its members, thereby increasing its global role for the apple and pear sector.

This was the last meeting chaired by Daniel Sauvaitre from ANPP in France. WAPA thanked Sauvaitre for his contribution to the association, and for representing WAPA on the international stage.

The last part of the meeting saw the official election of Todd Fryhover as president, from the Washington Apple Commission in the US. The vice-president of WAPA will be Nicholas Dicey from the South African Apple and Pear Association.

WAPA's secretariat and members are looking forward to continuing the good trends in the coming years with its new presidency.

Source: WAPA