France's apple harvest is on track to fall roughly 30% below last year's total because of drought and heatwaves, according to Cidres de France, the trade body representing the country's cider industry.
Speaking to franceinfo on Friday, September 11, 2026, the organisation said orchards across the country have been scorched by extreme heat and lack of rainfall this year, dragging down yields just as the harvest gets underway.
Historically low yields expected
The apple harvest, already under way in many French orchards, will continue until December, but the outlook is bleak. Cidres de France represents 15,000 people working across the sector and 9,000 hectares of orchards dedicated to apple growing in France.
Trees are expected to produce fewer than 200,000 tonnes of apples destined for cider and juice this year, roughly a third less than last year's output. Jean-Paul Benassi, director of Cidres de France, said the harvest was going to be historically low, possibly the lowest of the past 15 to 20 years.
Prices set to rise
The drop in production is expected to feed through quickly into pricing when producers begin negotiations with major retailers. A litre of apple juice or cider currently costs around two euros on average, but Benassi said that was likely to change on supermarket shelves.
He said a rise in prices was somewhat inevitable if producers were to be paid fairly for their work.
Vegetables hit too
The problem is not confined to orchards. Since the end of summer, many fruits and vegetables have become markedly more expensive, again because of repeated heatwaves and drought that have cut harvests while demand has stayed strong.
The federation Légumes de France said in a statement that losses were running into thousands of tonnes per product for crops including lamb's lettuce, young leafy greens, lettuce, carrots, leeks, shallots, garlic and onions. It added that because of the heatwaves, losses for some sectors could reach 50% of annual tonnage in France.
Driest conditions in decades
France recorded its hottest summer on record this year, and the ground has been left parched. According to a bulletin from the BRGM, France's geological survey agency, as of September 1, 61% of the country's groundwater tables were below normal levels and 90% were falling.
Cidres de France and other producer groups warned that the current surge in prices could continue into 2027 if conditions do not improve.
