The Dutch conference pear season started at the end of August. With the good weather conditions throughout the season, local farmers are satisfied with the harvest so far. At the moment, exporters are busy with processing, and the first batch of Dutch conference pears is ready to be shipped to China.
Jaap Pees from FruitMax (left) and Christiaan van der Linden from Direct Fruit Services (right)
Jaap Pees is the owner of FruitMax China. Together with their partner Direct Fruit Services from the Netherlands they import every year many Conference pears from the Netherlands into China. Jaap told us, “Although this year the weather in the Netherlands was a bit dry, the good thing is we always have sufficient natural underground water for the irrigation of our orchard and to combat the night frost.” Jaap said, “We are very happy with the harvest so far. Not only is the pear size bigger than last year, but the appearance also looks very pretty, with a greener colour and fewer bronze spots.”
Special certificate for export to China
There are already some Dutch farms that started harvesting 3 weeks ago. But Jaap and his cooperative farms want the fruits to grow for a bit longer on branches for a perfect ripeness with high sweetness. They decided to postpone the harvest, and start the shipment of the first batch by the end of September to Shanghai.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, the sea freight and inland logistic costs have both increased. Jaap expects the export price to be slightly more expensive compared with last year. “Meanwhile, we heard that this season the production volume of various Chinese pears is greatly reduced due to unfavorable weather conditions. With superior quality and higher demand from the local market, we hope that we can export more Dutch Conference pears this season. But we still need to see how the market will react after receiving the first batch of our pears, and how the local supply will develop in the next new weeks.”
Conference pear Orchard
The pear is the only Dutch fruit that has been allowed to be exported to China so far. According to Jaap, “The standard of conference pear export to China is one of the highest compared to other export destinations. Local authorities are very strict with the production standard from the origin farms, so production farms have to meet certain requirements and restrictions to be able to send their products. Together with Direct Fruit Services and our growers, we are very happy and proud to see that these high-quality and tasty Dutch pears are being appreciated by the Chinese importers and local consumers.”
Jaap Pees is satisfied with the new season conference pear
Established in 2016, FruitMax supplies the Chinese market with fruits from all over the world. “Doing fruit business in China, relying only on high-quality products is not enough. You have to have a long term vision and work together with strong local partners,” Jaap said.
“On one side, we select growers that are fully certified for China with good product quality. On the other side, we have close contact with local partners including wholesalers, retailers, and catering businesses. Our partners are essential to us. Business relationships are very important to us. Besides providing fresh fruits, we are also very happy to share the latest updates of production origins with our Chinese partners. You can say, we learn and grow together with our business partners.”
FruitMax China//每时水果
Jaap Pees （杨峻海）
Tel: +31 611189987//+86 18321048121
Email: jaap@fruitmaxchina.com
website: www.fruitmaxchina.com
Direct Fruit Services B.V.
Christiaan van der Linden
Tel: 0031 30 3031402
Email: cvanderlinden@directfruitservices.nl Website: www.directfruitservices.nl/eng