"Low top fruit prices, but it could have been worse"

Although the top fruit prices are a lot lower than in last season, director Michel Schrijnemaeker of Veiling Zuid-Limburg doesn't think it's all bad. "There is quite a high consumption domestically, partially due to the relatively low prices. This means that there a reasonably good sale of Conference pears and Elstar apples and that's the supply we have at the moment."



The price of the Conference pears is between 30 and 40 cents at the moment. The Elstar apples are going for around 40 to 50 cents. "Some of the demand has dropped out of the market due to the Russian boycott, and this is certainly having a negative affect on the market. This isn't good for a year with a reasonably large harvest. But we're Dutch and we're trying hard to find new markets. Last week there were buses full of Dutch people in Hong Kong, and I'm convinced this will only make us stronger. The Asian market mainly offers huge potential for the pears. But the politicians will have to do everything they can to solve trade barriers with for instance the United States."

 

In Belgium almost 1,000 hectares of pears have been signed up for intervention measures, and according to Schrijnmaekers a large portion will also be taken off of the market in the Netherlands, although to a lesser extent, mainly by harvesting the product green. "If we can store the fruit in the cooling house, I believe the market will remain reasonably stable."

The auction director is worried about the current industry price. "It has collapsed and needs to be helped back up. You can hardly make any money for industry fruit, and growers can't pick for these prices. The volumes of old harvest in many places shock me, and pressure the industry fruit, so the industry is happily using the over supply."