By Caroline Côté
Released on: May 4, 2024
The Québec Apple Marketing Survey was conducted by the Institut de la statistique du Québec for the 2022 harvest. The survey data provide an overview of Québec apple producers with at least 50 trees.
Harvest volume and value
In 2022, the apple harvest totalled 109,890 tonnes (t) , a 23.1% increase (+20,596 t) from 2021. This was the first year since 2018 that the harvest exceeded 100,000 t in the province.
The increase was due to higher production in two regions: Montérégie-Ouest, where production was up 84.7% (+7,972 t), and Montérégie-Est and Centre-du-Québec, where it was up by 33.9% (+12,086 t) from the previous year.
The quantity of apples marketed in the province stood at 109,404 with a sales value of $79.47 million for 2022. This was the third—and the largest—annual increase in four years (+20.2%, +$13.33 million).
The quantity of apples sold on the fresh market was 72,151 t for a value of $65.86 million, up 10.5% (+6,841 t) from 2021.
Apples sold to the processing market reached a new high of 37,252 t ($13.61 million) in 2022, an annual increase of 58.4% (+13,733.1 t).
Average selling price
For the fresh and processing markets combined, the average price of applesstood at $721.36 per tonne in 2022, compared to $744.36 per tonne in 2021 and $708.14 per tonne in 2020.
For the province of Québec overall in 2022, the average selling price of apples was $912.86 per tonne for the fresh market and $365.35 per tonne for the processing market.
Orchard area and number of trees
The estimated orchard area for the 2022 harvest was 4,768 hectares (ha), up 2.2% (+103 ha) from the previous year. The number of apple trees stood at 3,162,391, of which 2,641,509 were bearing trees.
