Will there be a shortage of Gala apples?

The export season of Polish apples is still at a very early stage. However, it is already known that it will be full of challenges, both in terms of finding foreign buyers and whether the quality of Polish fruits will make them suitable for shipment abroad, especially over long distances. Discussions are already underway among market participants regarding the supply of Polish export apples in the second half of the season, especially towards the end of the campaign. One of the hotter topics is the future supply of Gala apples. It is known that this variety is in high demand, but this year it has suffered due to unfavorable agrometeorological conditions during the vegetation and harvesting period. This will impact the quality of Gala apples later on. The longer the storage, the harder it will be to find fruits suitable for long journeys. There are opinions that Gala apples may even run out in the final phase of the export season when demand and prices are high. And even if they don't run out, the supply of export Galas will be so low in June and July that export volumes will be minimal. If this scenario proves true, we may be facing a repeat or even surpassing of the price scenario from the second half of the 2019/2020 season. Back then, the average price of Gala size 70+ exceeded 3.50 PLN/kg in June. Currently, the purchase prices of Gala (striped sports) size 70+ range from 2.10-2.50 PLN/kg. Smaller apples have prices of 1.70-2.00 PLN/kg, while Gala Must apples are priced at 1.60 PLN/kg. As seen in the chart above, on average, Gala is more expensive than five years ago. The scenario of record prices in the spring is therefore not ruled out, as long as there is demand for this Polish Gala variety.