This season's pear crop in Washington has had sizes larger than those from the previous year.“We're up about a size on pears this season,” said Roger Pepperl, marketing director at Stemilt Growers. “We thought this might happen, so it isn't a revelation that pear sizes are bigger this year.” Volume has also been close to what was anticipated earlier in the season, and Pepperl noted that prices have been good on the back of healthy promotions at the retail level.
“There was a bit of concern that we wouldn't get good promotions for pears with the big apple crop, but that's gone well,” said Pepperl. On November 26, the price for a 4/5 bushel carton of Bartlett 70s was between $22.00 and $26.00. A carton of D'Anjous 70s went for between $24.00 and $28.00, a carton of Bosc 70s went for between $20.00 and $26.00 out of the Yakima Valley and Wenatchee district.