Spring frost is to blame for the poor European plum crop

According to FAO data, the world plum crop was around 12.6 million tons in 2018. The largest producer is China, where 6.6 to 6.8 million tons of plums are harvested annually. In Turkey, there is a growing trend in the area under plums, this year the weather has been favorable for the plum crop. Serbia's annual plum harvest has fluctuated between 330 and 560 thousand tons over the past three years. This year, less plums are being harvested due to unfavorable weather and the appearance of plum wasps. According to Eurostat, the area under plums in the European Union was 155 thousand hectares in 2019 (cf. 220 thousand hectares at the turn of the millennium). The amount of harvested crop in 2019 decreased by 10 percent to 1.59 million tons compared to a year earlier, but increased by 6 percent compared to the average of the previous three years. According to the European Commission, the largest plum-producing member states of the EU were Romania (most of the plums grown here are ...