Lower production in Greece and Turkey has resulted in a spike in demand for Greek pears, says Greek pear exporter Paris Karastergios, of Karastergiou Bros: “Due to the fact that the total volume of pears was smaller than last year, there was a vivid demand over the past weeks. This demand did not solely originate from our traditional markets, but also from new destinations. The demand remains at satisfactory levels for this point of the season, mostly from Israel for multiple reasons. The local crop was smaller, and at the same time pear volumes in Turkey, which is our main competitor in Middle East, we’re also lower this season. Sadly, the fatal conflicts in the country have slowed down sales as you can imagine. Selling and buying fruit in the area is obviously not a top priority at the moment.”
According to Karastergios, the export of Santa Maria pears will end about a month earlier than it usually would. “Current stocks of Santa Maria pears are almost depleted at this point, because of the overall smaller volume and the higher demand. We will only be able to satisfy our running programs until the end of November, almost a month earlier than last year. Of course, there are still Blanquilla pears whose demand is rising after New Year’s. The biggest challenge at the moment is to have enough Santa Maria pears to satisfy our customers, with whom we arrange scheduled loadings from the beginning of the campaign. The Blanquilla variety has very different characteristics from Santa Maria and some customers are reluctant to switching to Blanquilla over Santa Maria pears."
The lack of Santa Maria pears could become an advantage later on in the season, Karastergios explains: “Given the fact that stocks are already lower, we expect to finish exporting Santa Maria pears earlier this season. This in turn means that we will start exporting Blanquilla earlier, which may give us a lead over the Spanish Blanquilla, that have been exported in January every season. So, we have enough to look forward to, not the least of all our newly designed website, which will be live by the end of the week.”
For more information:
Paris Karastergios
Karastergiou P. Bros S.A.
Tel: +30 24610 26940
Mob: +30 693 2469117
Email: [email protected]
http://www.karastergioubros.gr
