"This year's pears taste exceptionally good. The hot summer resulted in high sugar concentrations in the fruit", says Mark Vernooij of the Dutch trading company, Urfruit.
"Even the Lucas variety tastes considerably better than usual this year. We are getting very positive feedback about these pears from various places. Unfortunately, the high sugar levels are also causing an accelerated ripening process in the pears."
"You used to be able to easily work with stock that was a week or two old. This year, you can barely make it a week. The pears' quality deteriorates very quickly. This poor quality requires tight sorting and sales planning", Mark explains.
"Currently, we see an upward trend in the price of pear in the market. This revival is also very sorely needed. After October, the market dipped. It did not get out of this dip, even during the festive season. Now, at the beginning of the new year, the market is eventually becoming somewhat friendlier."
"This is partially due to there being fewer sorted products on the market. This is because, traditionally, many laborers working in pear production go home to their native countries to celebrate the festive season," Mark continues.
"We are hoping this upswing will be maintained in the coming period. The net price for farmers is very low. This is even including this price correction. It is doing everything but covering their costs," he says.
"Most of the batches has quality issues from the start. There is a higher percentage of these fruits that are lost than last year. Their shortened shelf life is also causing higher losses for the stores. This also brings its own challenges", Mark goes on to say.
"At the moment, sales are good in terms of volume. We are sending deliveries to various retail chains in Europe. The disappearance of the Russian market is and will continue to be an important issue. Demand from this market could have had a direct result on price formations."
"We see sales to far-off destinations increasing every year. This should lead to more stability on the market in the medium term. For this season, we have stopped sending pears to these distant places. This is mainly due to their poor shelf life. However, despite this, we have still been able to bring this Dutch to new markets. We hope to continue to grow in this in coming years", Mark concludes.
Urfruit is also at Fruit Logistica in Berlin, Hall 3.2 stand D11
For more information:
Mark Vernooij
Urfruit
20 Hof van Kettelerij
7251 DS Vorden
Tel. + 31 (0) 575 472 473
m.vernooij@urfruit.nl
www.urfruit.nl