Report by GroentenFruit Huis suggests demand for the fruit is stronger in the Netherlands than in other European countries
Consumers in the Netherlands eat more pears per capita than those in Germany, France, Italy or the UK, according to new research shared by Dutch industry organisation GroentenFruit Huis.
According to GroentenFruit Huis, the average consumer ate 2.8kg of pears in the Netherlands in 2023. This was ahead of average per-capita consumption in Germany (2.3kg), the UK (2.3kg), France (2.1kg) and Italy (2.1kg).
“These differences are also reflected in the percentage of households that buy pears,” it noted. “In the United Kingdom, 52 per cent of households bought pears, compared to 64 per cent in the Netherlands.”
Dutch pear production currently covers just over 10,000ha and is expected to yield a crop of around 323,000 tonnes this season.
That area expanded steadily until around five years ago, since when it has remained “fairly stable”.
Around 15 per cent of the Dutch harvest is consumed within the country, with the rest sold to buyers in countries such as Germany, UK, Italy, Spain and Poland.
An earlier forecast made ahead of annual industry meeting Prognosfruit suggested this would be slightly higher, at 327,000 tonnes – down 8.7 per cent on the year and -6.6 per cent on the three-year average.
Pear output across the EU this year is predicted to be up about 5 per cent to 1.79m tonnes.
