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July 2003, World Apple Report Highlights

Raising Prices Key
Sophisticated promotional or marketing efforts by industry associations will always be considered a failure if they do not raise prices sufficiently to prevent growers, packers and processors going out of business. This article examines whether or not apple prices can be raised effectively. It shows that consumers will pay extra for certain attributes. Those attributes can be determined by appropriate research and exploited by appropriate promotion. However, price premiums will tend to erode over time. They must constantly be renewed by research and innovation.

Social Trends Alter Markets
Changes in societies are most visible in developing countries that are changing rapidly. However, change is also inexorable in apparently more stable developed countries. More and more of the population live in congested urban areas. Their ties to agriculture are slim. Populations are changing in age distribution, household size, family living patterns, etc. Competition for resources farmers use is rising. As people adapt to changing pressures, their food consumption patterns change. The apple industry needs to stay alert to how these trends play out in their target markets.

World Trade O.K. Says WTO
The World Trade Organization (WTO), in its 2002 annual report, notes that recession led to a reduction in world trade in 2001. Countries heavily dependent on technology exports were particularly hard hit. However, the WTO argues that the decline in trade would have been much worse without the effects of the WTO's Uruguay Round agreement to reduce barriers to trade. More work remains to be done. However, the WTO deserves the support of agribusiness as it attempts to push for further agricultural trade liberalization.

Special Statistics
U.S.: Real Retail Demand for Fresh Apples, 1992-2002 (chart).
China: Average Export Prices of Fresh Apples, by Month, 2001-2003 (chart).

The authoritative guide to the world apple business today.

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