The apple tree is original from the tempered areas of Europe, the west area of Turkestan and the south-east and centre of Asia. It has been consumed for a very long time. In Switzerland and Italy there are proofs of apple trees from about 4,500 years ago.

The main producers are countries belonging to temperate climate regions like Europe, the United States, Turkey and China.

The world-wide production in 1999 is shown in the following table:

Continent	Thousand tons	%
Africa	1,546	3
Asia	31,992	52
Europe	16,675	28
North America	5,741	10
Oceania	836	1
South America	3,411	6
Total	60,201	100

Source: Fresh Produce Desk Book (2001)

The 10 main producers, along with their production evolution in the last years, are shown in the following table:

COUNTRY	PRODUCTION (thousand tons)
	1989-91	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
China	4,469	17,056	17,227	17,508	20,811	22,889
The USA	4,434	4,709	4,683	4,964	4,799	4,843
Turkey	1,883	2,200	2,350	2,500	2,500	2,500
Iran	1,378	1,925	1,998	2,000	2,137	2,200
Italy	1,935	2,071	1,835	2,115	2,343	2,155
France	2,113	2,446	2,445	2,500	2,165	2,140
Germany	1,957	2,162	1,602	2,154	2,268	1,800
India	1,118	1,250	1,300	1,300	1,320	1,320
Poland	1,090	1,952	2,098	1,687	1,604	1,280
Argentina	964	1,219	1,306	1,347	828	828

Source: FAO Production Yearbook (1998) and ( http://www.fao.org )

As reflected in the table, China produces 4 times the amount of apples produced by the following country, the United States.

Therefore, the world-wide production of apples amounts for more than 53 million tons, of which 1/3 is harvested in Europe.

The 10 main exporters, with respect to the value in thousand $, in 1998 and 1999 are those indicated in the following table:

Country	Thousand $
	1998	1999
France	488,559	419,455
United States	350,454	372,449
New Zealand	204,083	274,037
Italy	258,773	270,760
Chile	233,443	259,400
The Netherlands	186,582	214,485
Belgium-Luxembourg	238,857	206,429
South Africa	125,162	97,924
China	94,629	97,560
Argentina	118,093	95,681

FAO Source, ( http://www.fao.org )

The amount of apples in tons of the previous countries in 1998 and 1999 is the following:

Country	Tons
	1998	1999
France	766,207	717,772
The United States of America	582,234	638,926
New Zealand	291,720	362,183
Italy	540,138	569,239
Chile	575,601	521,715
The Netherlands	338,901	434,006
Belgium-Luxembourg	335,470	408,823
South Africa	273,539	250,816
China	204,469	252,264
Argentina	227,520	182,154

FAO Source, ( http://www.fao.org )

The 10 main import countries, in metric tons, have been, in 1998 and 1999, the following:

Country	Tons
	1998	1999
Germany	707,763	725,206
United Kingdom	460,369	449,492
The Netherlands	235,922	338,814
China	252,645	260,310
Belgium-Luxembourg	248,411	232,541
Spain	132,909	213,317
The United States	141,971	164,167
Russian Federation	358,758	162,145
Mexico	84,067	136,379
Canada	115,278	121,294

FAO Source, ( http://www.fao.org )

The European Union imports 2,100,000 tons, of which 600,000 come from the S. Hemisphere.

The 10 countries with greater import of apples, with respect to their value in thousand $, were, in 1998 and 1999, the following:

Country	Thousand $
	1998	1999
United Kingdom	390,920	374,154
Germany	438,656	367,141
The Netherlands	163,745	216,019
Belgium Luxembourg	204,954	178,143
China	185,233	168,562
The United States	95,390	134,484
Mexico	66,335	122,307
Spain	79,463	120,433
Canada	84,749	84,509
France	66,335	67,092

FAO Source, ( http://www.fao.org )