Office fruit box news:

The price of apples is set to increase by 60 per cent, a new report has warned.

Trade magazine the Grocer reported that apple prices are expected to rise to 80 pence per kilo this year thanks to lower volumes of the fruit coming onto the market.

The magazine said the average cost of the cheapest apples hit a low of 50p per kilo at the UK’s biggest supermarket chains in November 2009, due to a surplus of European fruit and competition between retailers.

However, prices leapt to 69p per kilo last month and growers have said they expect costs to continue increasing.

Apple production in the EU fell five per cent in 2009 to 10.9 million tonnes, according to the latest data.

Fruit industry experts say that the situation was so bad that growers across Europe have been ripping out their apple trees and converting to arable production instead.

Still, apples have a range of health benefits that should not be ignored simply because of a higher price.

They are loaded with antioxidants and essential vitamins A, B and C, as well as lowering cholesterol and helping to prevent cancers.

 

This entry was posted on Friday, February 19th, 2010 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Office Fruit Blog-2010. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.