Pear exports out of the Northwest are down considerably. Ed Weathers of Duckwall Fruit says that on its D'Anjou pears, more than 30 percent of that crop is historically exported. This season, that export movement is down considerably, largely due to cost. "We are also protecting that fruit for U.S. customers, our largest customer base," he says.
Mexico for instance is Duckwall Fruit's number one export market and on top of the already stronger pear pricing this season, the Mexican Peso has weakened against the U.S. dollar over the last year which in turn has also decreased Mexico's buying power.
That strong pear pricing is because this year's pear crop from the Northwest is one of the smallest it has had in almost 40 years. "Our official estimate was around 10 million boxes and a typical crop is 16-17 million boxes so it's incredibly short," says Weathers, adding that the 2023-2024 crop was just under 15 million boxes.
That said, the tighter supply is variety and region-dependent. Supply in the northwest comes from four growing regions: the Hood River/mid-Columbia; North Central Wenatchee; Yakima; and southern Medford, Oregon. "The northern part of Washington state is what was hit especially hard," says Weathers. "There were severe freeze conditions last winter that killed a lot of the buds so there was limited bud set." Meanwhile, the Hood River district had a more normal crop on most varieties except for Bosc, which was down considerably.
Varietal notes
On varieties, this season's Bartlett crop was about 80 percent of the 2023-2024 crop. Anjou was also about 80 percent of the 2023-2024 crop, though that crop was not large either. On Bosc, as an industry, only 36 percent of the 2023-2024 crop was picked. Other smaller varieties varied–red D'Anjou was very similar in boxes to the previous year while Comice was down also around 20-30 percent of the crop from the year before. "Almost everything was down with the Bosc variety being extremely down," he says, adding that the Bosc variety is a cyclical-bearing crop and the 2023-2024 crop was close to a record crop.
While the crop was short, the quality of the crop is strong with good sizing and finish.
As for demand, it's adequate to move the crop. "Prices are a fair amount higher than the past few years because of the short crop. We are on track as an industry to finish up earlier than normal," says Weathers.
For more information:
Ed Weathers
Duckwall Fruit
Tel: +1 (541) 354-1694
[email protected]
www.duckwallfruit.com