The price of medium-acidity apple juice concentrate is up 22.5% y-o-y at €1850/MT, 39.0% above the five-year average for April. The higher prices followed a low apple crop according to market sources no larger than 3.5 million tonnes in Poland. Poland is a major apple juice producer for the European markets, Polish apple juice concentrate for the 2023/24 MY is estimated at around 250,000 tonnes by market players.
Demand remains stable from last month, the Mintec Benchmark price for medium acidity apple juice was unchanged m-o-m. Market sources await updates on the upcoming apple crop from Poland. Due to the historically high prices, most buyers in the industry are currently only purchasing on a short-term basis. Market players hope that prices will ease with the arrival of the new crop, however, a juice buyer told Mintec “Although it is too early to tell, there is no reason why prices would be lower”.
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Warm weather in Poland in March stimulated the fruit trees to bud faster than usual, followed by a cold snap towards the end of April. Market players are still trying to assess the extent of frost damage this will have on the 2024 harvest. Growers lit fires in their orchards to try to reduce the frost damage on their trees, a clearer picture of what damage occurred will be around in 3-4 weeks.
High-acidity apple juice remains scarce in Europe, with limited trading activity reported to Mintec in April.
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