The 2025 UK pear season was good, and volumes were up despite extreme temperatures through the summer months.
"It was a very good growing season for pears, and the volume was 25% up on the previous season. Fruit quality has been good with high-class 1 yields," said Tony Harding, Technical and Procurement Director at Worldwide Fruit. "The very hot weather in the summer had an impact on fruit size. The upside being the fruit has very high brix levels and is eating superbly. We plan to finish English pear stocks in May / early June. The quality was fairly consistent across all our growers. Most of the pears are grown in Kent, with pockets of high-quality production in the Wisbech area and Herefordshire."
95% of the UK pear production is the Conference variety; the search continues for something to complement the Conference offer. Comice is becoming extremely difficult to sell, and Concorde has almost been totally removed by the growers, according to Tony.
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"The demand for pears is increasing as UK retailers chase increased UK volumes. There have been some significant plantings in recent years in the UK. Despite the demand for UK from retailers, we need to be competitive versus the competition from Holland and Belgium, therefore it's critical Conference is only planted in ideal locations and grown to high standards that enable the right level of class 1 production."
The recent market data from Numerator for the 4-week period ending 25/01/26 shows the pear market in growth, with spend +14.7% and volume +17.6%. All metrics are in growth, apart from price, which is -2.5%, in part due to the promotional activity in the market.
Transition to Southern Hemisphere supply
A large proportion of the pear sales remains in the Northern Hemisphere, as Conference still accounts for 60+% of the total pear sales in the UK. Current European pear stocks as of 1st Feb were +16% year on year, with Conference +23% up year on year.
"The transition to the Southern Hemisphere is currently underway with Williams and Qtee already having arrived, and other varieties programmed," explained Keith Butterworth, Product Manager at Worldwide Fruit. "Our sourcing plan is split between South Africa and Argentina. In South Africa, there has been storm damage recently in the Ceres region, which will lead to a crop reduction on Forelle. There will be full availability of all other pear varieties. In Argentina, they have a full crop of fruit in good condition."
Keith said that demand for Southern Hemisphere pears is different from the demand for UK fruit, as the variety profiles from the Southern Hemisphere aren't the same as those in the UK. The main variety grown in the UK is Conference, and this isn't grown in the Southern Hemisphere.
"There is a high volume of Conference pear in the market available from both the UK and Benelux countries, which is allowing promotional activity to take place and therefore increasing levels of consumption. The weather in the run-up to the UK & European harvest of Conference last September led to a full crop of high-quality pears with good flavour.
"As Conference represents so much of the UK pear market and there is more fruit year on year, this will ultimately grow the total category and the UK, and Benelux drive further sales through more activity."
For more information:
Tony Harding
Worldwide Fruit
[email protected]
Hannah McIlfatrick
Worldwide Fruit
Tel; +441775717005
[email protected]
www.worldwidefruit.co.uk
