“QTee can reach more markets than Conference”

QTee pears were on the shelves of the largest Belgian retailers Colruyt and Delhaize as of yesterday, but Albert Heijn in the Netherlands also has the red-blushing pear on their shelves. “After a few years of testing, QTee is now available for the general public. We started growing QTee to create an alternative to Conference, which was hit hard by the Russia ban,” says Kris Wouters, exporter and variety owner of QTee and fruit grower of Woutersfruit. “This year we’ll have plenty of volume of QTee available, although we were also affected by the dry weather. Yet we’re positive about the numbers and the sizes of the fruit.”

In Belgium, 30 fruit producers grow the QTee pear on a total of 125 hectares. Although QTee is a proper summer variety, it can easily be stored until November or December. “QTee is a good addition to the South African Forelle pear. Just like Forelle, QTee has a red peel, and is therefore much in demand in the Middle East, contrary to the Conference. In the Middle East they ask for beautiful fruit with a beautiful peel, and QTee fits that description. The small sized pears are also very popular in the Middle East, so it’s a good destination for the small fruit,” Kris says.

“Although QTee is on the shelves of the large supermarkets, we’ve noticed that not every retailer is interested in a new pear. Prices of QTee are 20 to 30 per cent higher on average than of a traditional pear. This is necessary because the grower takes more risk with a new variety,” Kris explains. About ten countries are allowed to grow QTee, but growers can’t export the pear within Europe. South Africa is the only country to export the pear to Europe because their production doesn’t overlap with the European production.