Especially late frosts in the main apple-growing region of Styria have led to a significantly lower fruit harvest this year. The total harvest amounted to 145,400 tons, which is 24 percent lower than the previous year and 30 percent below the ten-year average, as reported by Statistics Austria on Thursday. This is the second-lowest result in the past ten years. For nearly all types of fruit, the high summer temperatures led to unusually early harvests.

The significant shortfall in the apple harvest resulted in a 29 percent decrease in the production of pome fruit, which is 90 percent apples, with a total of 114,900 tons. Specifically, apple production dropped by a third to 104,000 tons. Of this, only 61 percent came from Styria, compared to 74 percent last year. In contrast, pear production increased by 58 percent to 10,300 tons.

Due to the early blooming, stone fruits were largely spared from frost damage, and production rose by 42 percent compared to the previous year, reaching 11,500 tons. Meanwhile, the berry harvest was slightly below the previous year’s figure, with a total of 18,600 tons, a decrease of three percent.