Fresh pears for the 2023 season have already begun to be bagged. Recently, some areas in Shijiazhuang, Hebei have experienced heavy rainfall and hail, but the impact on the main pear-producing areas is not expected to be significant. Regarding the export of fresh pears in the last season and the forecast of the production, Manager Li, from Hebei Xionghan Agricultural Products Co., Ltd., introduced the recent market and sales of fresh pears in Hebei producing areas to FreshPlaza.
According to Li, the output and quality of Chinese fresh pears in the 2022 season are good, and the price is also high. However, due to the domestic pandemic in October and November 2022, the factory cannot deliver goods and the exchange rate of the US dollar is too high. The export of fresh pears is stable with a small drop. After the outbreak in November-December 2022, the sales of the domestic fresh pear market are booming, and the price and volume have both risen, resulting in the price of fresh pears remaining high. From January to February 2023, due to the large increase in the exchange rate of the US dollar and the fact that domestic and foreign consumers have just experienced the peak season of Christmas and New Year, sales in many countries and markets were slow, and prices dropped slightly. In March, Indonesian customers began to stock up for Eid al-Fitr in April, and the Indonesian market began to pick up, but prices only rose slightly.
"Currently, fresh pears in Hebei are at the end of the season, and the inventory is relatively small. The market shows signs of recovery, and the price is relatively high. Although the performance of the Eid al-Fitr is not as expected, and the performance of the European market is not as good as in previous years, the performance of the North and South American markets and the domestic market is relatively bright. Overall, it is still a relatively good year.”
"In terms of production areas, due to the March-April period of pear tree flowering and fruit development, the temperature in the north was abnormal and fluctuated greatly. It has experienced a late spring cold, and there has even been severe weather such as a large temperature difference of more than 15 degrees in a day and strong winds.
"However, this has little effect on the flowering period, but the low temperature during the pollination period has a greater impact on the fruit setting rate and the growth of young pears. Pollination of some pear flowers failed, resulting in a low fruit setting rate. Many fruit growers have reported that less labor is required for fruit pruning and pear bagging this year. Compared with last year, the labor cost has been reduced by about 10-15%, which means that there may be a corresponding reduction in production. However, in Henan and Shandong regions, the young pears experienced severe weather during the growth stage, and the young pears were frostbitten, which had a significant impact on the yield.
"At present, fruit growers in Hebei-producing areas have completed pear pruning, and about 70-80% of fruit growers have completed bagging. Recently, parts of Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province have experienced heavy rainfall and hailstorms, which have little impact on the main pear-producing areas."
When talking about expectations for the new production season, Li said: "We have relatively high expectations for this year, and we have started to discuss the cooperation plan for the next season with foreign customers at a relatively early time, and this year we will resume the frequency of participating in exhibitions like before the pandemic. We will participate in Asia Fruit Logistica in September and hope to meet new and old customers more often."
"This year we also launched order-based planting, mainly for customers in Europe and the United States who have high requirements for quality, and uses of pesticide residues. We can work with customers to supply fresh pears of special growing criteria and guarantee individual supply."
