The World of Apples

Apples of China

4 varieties in the atlas came from China. The oldest is Qinguan, dated by 1967.

Map of where the apple varieties in the atlas came from A map of the world on the Equal Earth projection, with a dot for each variety at its place of origin.

Harvest

China grew 51,285,100 tonnes of apples in 2024, 52.4% of the world's harvest; it ranked first among the world's producers.1

1961 2024
The figures
YearTonnes
2024 51,285,100
2023 49,601,700
2022 47,571,800
2021 45,983,400
2020 44,066,100
2019 42,425,400
2018 39,233,400
2017 41,390,000
2016 40,393,000
2015 38,899,000
2014 40,923,200
2013 39,682,616
2012 38,491,000
2011 35,985,000
2010 33,263,000
2009 31,680,788
2008 29,846,608
2007 27,859,936
2006 26,059,000
2005 24,011,080
2004 23,675,472
2003 21,101,776
2002 19,240,984
2001 20,014,986
2000 20,431,230
1999 20,801,640
1998 19,480,720
1997 17,218,572
1996 17,052,246
1995 14,007,660
1994 11,129,020
1993 9,069,557
1992 6,555,836
1991 4,540,445
1990 4,319,315
1989 4,498,920
1988 4,344,394
1987 4,265,000
1986 3,336,793
1985 3,614,111
1984 2,941,000
1983 3,541,050
1982 2,430,000
1981 3,006,000
1980 2,363,100
1979 2,868,900
1978 2,275,000
1977 2,108,000
1976 1,730,000
1975 1,583,000
1974 1,156,000
1973 1,301,000
1972 850,000
1971 854,000
1970 798,000
1969 1,000,000
1968 750,000
1967 630,000
1966 500,000
1965 318,000
1964 300,000
1963 248,000
1962 225,000
1961 167,000

Estimated or imputed by FAOSTAT, not a figure the country reported.

Growing regions

  • Shaanxi China's leading apple province since 2009, its loess orchards grow about one in four of the country's apples
  • Shandong A missionary's "foreign fruit garden" at Chefoo began China's modern apple; Yantai now grows over 7 million tonnes

Varieties from China, oldest first

  • Qinguan

    Bred in Shaanxi from Golden Delicious and Jiguan, it once covered 150,000 hectares of Chinese orchards

    China, by 1967

  • Hanfu

    A cold-hardy cross of Dongguang and Fuji from Shenyang, grown on about 26,700 hectares around that city by 2016

    China, bred from 1978

  • Huaguan

    Bred in Zhengzhou, China, from Golden Delicious and Fuji; sold in North America under the trade mark Autumn Glory

    China, by 1990

  • Huashuo

    Bred in Zhengzhou from Meiba and Huaguan, an early August apple put forward as a Chinese-bred alternative to Gala

    China, approved 2009

Sources

  1. FAOSTAT: Production: Crops and livestock products, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Updated 31 December 2025. Supports: each country's apple harvest by year (item 515, apples, in tonnes, 1961 to 2024), the shares of the world's harvest and the ranks worked out from them, and which figures FAOSTAT estimated or imputed.