The season for the Corina pear, an early selection of the Conference, has already ended. This pear, marketed by five distributors in Belgium and the Netherlands, heralds the new season. "And it has been, I think, a nice foretaste of how the new Conference season will go," says Louis De Cleene of Devos-Wouters. "The market started empty. There was good demand, and we were able to sell at good prices."
For the company, Corina's sales this season fell perfectly between the old and new pear seasons. "Everything went according to plan, down to the day and even the hour," he laughs. "On July 30, we sold the last old Conference. On the 31st, we started with Corina. That sorting continued until August 12, after which we could start Conference again on the 13th. We are also very satisfied with sales in the last few weeks, both for Corina and Conference. The market was really as good as empty. For both varieties, there were still quite a few kilos harvested, certainly more for Corina than estimated, so it was not so easy to move that 'excess volume.' But hopefully the Corina growers will also be satisfied with the prices achieved."
It is a different story from last season, when there was still a lot of old crop on the market at the time Corina was launched. "A lot remained then. We also see that the market has changed in that respect in recent years. In the past, a new, fresh crop was always preferred to old pears, but that is now noticeably different. Price, unfortunately, prevails. As a result, Corina was a difficult story last year, in which we nevertheless managed to arrange good prices for our regular customers, given the circumstances. This year, however, we have clearly seen strong demand, which makes it easier to work with." Devos-Wouters continues to focus on the domestic market with Corina. "Yet a fair amount also goes towards exports. Especially the smaller sizes find their way to Scandinavia or the UK, but those sales channels are reasonably balanced."
From competitors to customers
Now a week has passed, and the switch has been made to the new Conference season. "There, too, we have good prospects. The pears are very nice. Green, smooth, and we also have an exceptional amount of Class 1 fruit. With what we have sorted so far, we are around 95 percent Class 1. That is unprecedented. Moreover, the sugar content is excellent, which makes trading easier. Consumers will easily buy based on appearance initially and then make repeat purchases because of the taste. That is what you want, because the first pears of the season ultimately set the tone for the rest of the year towards the consumer."
"We also have more volumes available than last year," Louis continued. "It does vary, almost from village to village. Some growers say they are picking much more, while others have to return empty storage bins they had already put in the field. Still, overall, there are enough pears to sell well. In addition, we have the advantage that this year we see many countries that were previously competitors in sales becoming customers instead. Italy is a classic example of a country shifting more each year from an export to an import country for pears. The Balkan countries, which otherwise supply that region and the east, are also having a noticeably weaker harvest, so you see that they are already asking for Conference. So I expect the harvest to move well this season."
© Devos-Wouters
For more information:
Louis De Cleene
Devos-Wouters
+32 16 77 97 58
[email protected]
www.devosgroup.com
