"Volatile time in pear market"

"To date, there is no reliable data with regard to pear stocks. We keep speculating, but no one really knows how much there is in the Netherlands and Belgium", says Mark Vernooij of Urfruit. "We've had very nice pears this season already and there has been ample opportunity to market this fruit at a fair price. Unfortunately, this year there was too much supply in May and June. This fruit is not suited to long storage (July/August sale). This stock, plus fruit that should have been gone in May, is now making the market volitile."

"Monitoring this fruit is, and will remain, crucial. Changing over in time can prevent problems. Today's refrigeration technology gives us an edge, but the fruit never comes out as good as it goes in," continues Mark. "Furthermore, there are always traders / growers with no set sales who are gambling on the global price in these last few months. Most of the players who have good, permanent points of sale in the last months of the season have already been safe for a while. Free trade can be very lucrative at this time. However, the times that this has happened are fewer than the times when you had to scramble to sell your product at a fair price."

"The good weather and the large volumes of stone fruits are not helping our cause. However, there are, fortunately, enough countries where people eat our fruit, regardless of the weather or substitutes. We had extremely early blossoms this season, but the cold weather that followed, negated this advantage. This also means the season, providing the quality lasts, with be longer than expected. Due to the severe frost we experienced, our harvest will be smaller next year - but we expect good quality pear," Marks concludes.

For more information:
Mark Vernooij
Urfruit
Tel: +31 (0) 57 547 24 73
m.vernooij@urfruit.nl
www.urfruit.nl