Apple growers are leaving fruit on the trees due to low demand

Due to low demand, some apple growers in the Altes Land let their fruit hang on the trees or lie on the ground. According to the people of Lower Saxony, the reasons lie in the extreme reluctance of consumers to buy, in the high energy and labor costs and in the oversupply of apples on the world market.

The harvest this year is good, said Landvolk expert Claus Schliecker: At 320,000 tons, the harvest volume will be around five percent more than last year. Because of the good summer, the quality is also good. But despite the excellent sweetness, the farmers are not sold the apples. Even cider companies are not willing to accept apples from Germany. Instead, the juice producers get the fruit from abroad because the prices are lower there.

"We fruit growers also have to contend with enormous costs, because 60 percent of the cost of the apple consists of energy costs," said Schliecker. Because the apples have to be cooled down to three degrees for storage. The high costs of energy would lead to liquidity problems for some farmers.

The result: the apples that cannot be sold are left lying around. "The crème de la crème of the apples has been harvested, so that harvesting more apples no longer makes sense and is uneconomical," explained the expert. "It is an outrage against the background of the world food situation."

From the point of view of the farmers, the cost drivers include not only energy costs but also the increase in the minimum wage to 12 euros per hour. This means that local goods have no chance on the world market, because apples are picked by hand in Germany. But the farmers could not squander their goods at world market prices, said Schliecker. The structural change will therefore accelerate significantly. More companies would go out of business.