“The top fruit season has started again and as of a few days ago, after the high temperatures disappeared, we have been feeling demand rising again. The first two weeks of the season have been very busy. In those weeks we shipped a lot at attractive prices. The past three weeks have been quite a lot calmer, but traditionally we have seen demand pick up towards October. Due to the lower prices, not many pears are being sorted at the moment, which means that the supply is small and we expect the price to rise again slowly,” says Louis De Cleene of Devos.
Despite all the measures, the picking of the fruit at Devos went well and quickly. “Everything arrived on time and everything went well. We have picked good quality Conference. We have a higher production than last year and in terms of taste and appearance it all looks very good,” says Louis. “The many hours of sunshine have had a positive effect on the sugar content, but it can make things more difficult for storage before the season is over. However, we specialise in the storage of pears, so with the right attention, we will again be able to supply pears of excellent quality all year round. ”
“In addition to the Conference, our red pears Early Desire and Queen's Forelle are also in the fridges again. We always start with Early Desire and this is already going very quickly at the moment,” says De Cleene. “We have considerably more volume than last year and the quality is also very good this year. We are planning the Queen's Forelle after the Early Desire, but expectations are also looking good for this pear. For the time being, they are still niche products with enormous potential to leave that niche. In recent years we have seen the demand for red pears increase enormously and we expect this demand to increase even further in the coming years. ”
“It will be a different story for apples this year. Jonagold apples are scarce anyway, so they will be sold for good money. This year there will be a lot of searching for Jonagold apples, by all kinds of parties. We have quite a bit of volume anyway, but we have to supply in our regulars first. The Primo apple has also suffered some frost and sunburn damage and generally the same story applies as for Jonagold. Just like for pears, our customers count on us to be able to supply apples with good quality all year round,” Louis concludes.
For more information:
Louis De Cleene
Devos Group 
Eugeen Coolsstraat 66
3460 Bekkevoort - Belgium
+32 (0) 16 77 97 58
louis@devosgroup.com
www.devosgroup.com