Harvesting of the red-blush QTee started in Belgium. “We started on Tuesday 9th of August, which was about three days later than last year. Despite the bad summer, harvesting is going well, and both quality and colour are good,” says Kris Wouters.
Difficult to predict
Last year the Belgian harvest was approximately 500 tonnes, and for this season a slightly larger harvest is expected. “That will only become clear at the start of this week. We had hoped for a much larger volume, but because the plantings are only two or three years old and because of the bad weather during the flowering time, the setting was not as good as in other years.” Wouters cannot yet predict the volume for coming years. “I would rather not name figures yet. It is a productive variety, we therefore expect numbers will increase in coming years, but we cannot yet say by how much.” New trees will be planted during the coming winter, increasing the Belgian area to 130 hectares. “That will be followed by a planting pause, because we first want to await the responses of all markets. If those responses are positive, we might continue planting new trees. We remain careful.”
The target audience is wide. “Last year, QTee was sold to 11 different countries, and we received positive responses from all of them. The largest amounts went to Germany, the Middle East and the UK last season. It is remarkable that the UK is interested in small sizes especially. We already know we have insufficient volumes this year,” Wouters explains.
This week, Stein Harald Hjeltnes of Graminor, the man who developed QTee, visited Wouters.
Production in South Africa
Starting in 2017, harvesting will also start in South Africa. “Those trees still have to flower. No large amounts are expected, in part due to the fact that the trees in South Africa have to be four years old before actual production will occur.” For the future, both seasons are just right. “The Belgian production occurs during summer, and can be stored until the start of January. Harvesting in South Africa would normally occur during the second week of January. There might possibly be a small gap between those two seasons. That will be the case anyway for the first few years, because we still have too little production.” Fruit trader Wouters cooperates with Fresh Fruit Services Europa in Europe, and with Stargrow in South Africa. For more information:
NV Fruithandel Wouters R&Co
Kasteellaan 21
3454 Rummen
Belgium
Telephone : +32 11586190
Mobile : +32 475283696
Fax: +32 11581041
kris@woutersfruit.be
www.qtee-pear.com