World apple production
Around 100 million tonnes of pome fruit are produced annually worldwide across 7.3 million hectares.
Apples account for 75 million tonnes (75%) of this, and pears for 24 million tonnes. Biggest producer is China with 51.7 million tonnes, a five-fold growth in pome fruit production over the last 15 years, now representing 51% of the world’s total. 35.9 million tonnes of this are apples, the rest mainly Asian pears.
USA is the second largest producer with 5.5 million tonnes. Europe produces around 20 million tonnes, with Italy, France, Germany and Poland as the largest producing countries.
Average per capita consumption of apples is over 13 kg/year with Turkey and Italy consuming more per head than any other countries. Exports total over 5 million tonnes of apples annually, with France, USA and Chile the leading players. Biggest importers are Germany, UK and Russia in total, taking 33% of all exports.
Around 1.8 million tonnes of pears are exported annually with China, Argentina and South Africa the biggest exporters. The biggest producers of apple juice concentrates are China, USA and Poland, representing over 40% of world production. The USA and Germany are the two largest importers of concentrates, each importing more than 0.2 million tonnes every year.
