Himachal apple production 2026: the apple that is shrinking
AS OF 9 Oct 2026
UPDATED 15 Oct 2026In July, Himachal's Director of Horticulture estimated the 2026 apple crop at 4.36 lakh tonnes, against 6.99 lakh tonnes in 2025. The reporting calls it a fall of about 40%; our own arithmetic gives about 38%. A later estimate, reported on 1 October, puts the whole season at 3.5 to 3.75 lakh tonnes. Early market numbers show a similar fall: about 1.15 crore boxes had reached markets by 1 October, against 2.18 crore last year, a fall reported as 48%.
Apple crop · lakh tonnes
A July estimate, not the final harvest. The fall is about 40% as reported, 38% by our arithmetic.
Key figures
Apple output, 2025
6.99 lakh tonnes
- As of
- 6 Jul 2026
- Source
- Director of Horticulture, via The Tribune / PTI
Apple output, 2026 estimate
4.36 lakh tonnes (about 2.15 crore boxes)
- As of
- 6 Jul 2026
- Source
- Director of Horticulture, via The Tribune / PTI
Fall, 2025 to 2026
2.63 lakh tonnes: about 40% as reported, 38% by our arithmetic
- As of
- 6 Jul 2026
- Source
- The Tribune / PTI; our arithmetic
Value to the state economy
roughly Rs 5,000 crore
- As of
- 6 Jul 2026
- Source
- The Tribune / PTI
Families involved
about 2.5 lakh
- As of
- 6 Jul 2026
- Source
- The Tribune / PTI
Reasons named by officials
too little winter snowfall, unseasonal spring rain, hail, swings in temperature, too few chilling hours
- As of
- 6 Jul 2026
- Source
- The Tribune / PTI
Full-season estimate, 2026 (Horticulture Department, later than July)
3.5 to 3.75 lakh tonnes, against about 7 lakh tonnes last year: a fall of about 46% to 50% by our arithmetic
- As of
- 1 Oct 2026
- Source
- Horticulture Department estimate, via PTI / BusinessLine
Boxes at market, 2026 season so far (to 1 Oct)
about 1.15 crore, against 2.18 crore at the same point last year (our reading): a fall of 48% as reported (47% by our arithmetic)
- As of
- 1 Oct 2026
- Source
- PTI via BusinessLine; State Horticulture Director Satish Kumar
Boxes at market, 2026 season so far (to 9 Oct)
1,23,34,739 (about 1.23 crore)
- As of
- 9 Oct 2026
- Source
- UNI, quoting Horticulture Minister Jagat Singh Negi
What we left out and why
The article gives the orchard area two ways (acres and hectares) that do not match, so area is not used. The Rs 5,000 crore figure is a rough value for the apple economy; the article says it is likely proportionately less this year. Box counts are what has reached markets so far this season, not the final crop, and the July figure is a forecast, so we show them side by side and do not add them together. On 1 October, the Horticulture Department's estimate for the whole season was lower than the July one: 3.5 to 3.75 lakh tonnes, against about 7 lakh last year, as reported by PTI. The same report also gives 1.5 crore boxes for the season, which does not line up exactly with that tonnage, and the Horticulture Minister said it was hard to say whether the season would reach 2 crore boxes. We show these as reported and do not pick between them. The 2.18 crore for last year is read as the same point last year, because the Minister put last year's full total at about 3.49 crore.
Sources
- The Tribune / PTI, 'Climate change hits Himachal's Rs 5,000 crore apple economy; 2026 production to fall 40 per cent'6 Jul 2026
- PTI via BusinessLine, 1 Oct 2026, "Apple production falls 48% so far this year in Himachal"1 Oct 2026
- UNI, Shimla, 9 Oct 2026: Horticulture Minister Jagat Singh Negi on apple procurement and weather impact9 Oct 2026
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