Production and trade patterns in the world apple market

Abstract

Awareness of healthy food, population growth, increasing incomes, and urbanization raise the global demand for fruit, where the second position goes to apples. However, their supply is insufficient, implying the lost revenues and exacerbating nutritional food insecurity. To help growers, traders, and consumers cope with such a challenge, this research focused on revealing some world patterns in apple production and trade detailed by groups of countries, their capacities, and prices. The explored data on fresh and processed apples derived from the Food and Agriculture Organization Statistics. The methodological framework of the study engaged divisive hierarchical clustering, analysis of interval variation series, and inequality indicators. The research findings identified two major clusters of 50 out of 96 countries specialized in production and foreign sales of 83.2% and 76.9% of apples. The study outcome comparing fair trade via two triple histograms specified the prevailing deviations between –82% and 80% around farm gate apple prices in 47 exporting countries and the same between –83% and 83% in 46 importing countries. Based on the Gini coefficient, Ratio 20/20, and Hoover index, the accomplished evaluations quantified total disparity in apple trading by 13% to 40%, calculated misbalance between 20% of the top and bottom world traders, and grounded preferable market alignments ranged from 9% to 38%.