© USA PearsThe current estimated pack-out volume of pears in the Pacific Northwest is 16.7 million boxes (20 kg. or 44-lb. equivalents). This number is down about two million boxes from the mid-October estimated pack-out due to normal shrinkage throughout the season. In addition, the pack-out per bin is not reaching the same levels now compared to the beginning of the season as the product is being put into the packages for sale. "Nevertheless, this season's crop is still the largest in six seasons and exceeds last year's very small crop by more than six million boxes," says Jeff Correa with USA Pears. "The remaining inventory amounts to 4.4 million boxes, mainly represented by Green Anjou, Bosc, and Red Anjou varieties."
Quality of the fruit stored in Controlled Atmosphere (CA) rooms remains good, and the expectation is for the industry to be shipping pears domestically, as well as into Mexico and Canada well into the summer months. "Typically, we see an increase in the quality of pears during this late-season window as growers put away the strongest fruit for long-term storage at the beginning of the season," Correa mentioned.
New export markets
Export demand for pears from the Pacific Northwest has been good, but not great. On a positive note, export volumes are up over last season. "The U.S. was able to re-enter several important export markets after having been on the sidelines for a few seasons due to short crops and transition time concerns," shared Correa. This resulted in good volumes being shipped to Brazil, India, and Colombia after a few seasons of very limited volumes going to these market. Israel was a big surprise for the industry with export volumes surpassing 150,000 boxes, which is a record volume shipped to the market.
To re-enter some of these markets, the USA Pear industry looked at different routing options to avoid some of the shipping challenges that hampered exports in the past few seasons. These included bottlenecks in transitioning the Panama Canal and general delays in the global sea transportation system. USA Pear shippers explored going through Houston or the East Coast to get to South America or markets in the Middle East. "Pears that were expected to arrive in the Middle East in 50 to 60 days finally arrived at 70+ days, which is pushing the limits for pears to arrive in good condition," mentioned Correa. Fortunately, those elevated transit times didn't cause any issues with arrivals to Israel this season.
© USA Pears
Lower demand from some key markets
Contrary to increased exports to offshore markets was some anti-American consumer sentiment in Canada. This, coupled with pro-Canadian product support has cooled off the Canada market for USA Pears this season. "Canada is still our second leading market, but volumes are below the expected goals set for the season," mentioned Correa. They are also below where the industry should be given the size of the pear crop. Mexico on the other hand has continued to be the strong export market it has been for many years. Export volumes are expected to surpass 3.2 million boxes by the end of the season.
Impact of Middle East war
The war in the Middle East hasn't impacted pear shipments from the USA as all product arrived prior to the start of the conflict. "However, it has made us shift our promotional activities - especially on social media," shared Correa. "We paused our social media activity in the first few weeks of the war and only recently restarted our posting activity. For now, the focus is on posting recipe videos and non-promotional social media posts."
For more information:
Jeff Correa
Pear Bureau Northwest
Tel: (+1) 503-652-9720
[email protected]
www.usapears.com
