Italy expects as pear production more than doubles

The president of Italian pear consortium Opera La Pera, Adriano Aldrovandi, says he expected “optimal size and quality” as well as double last year’s production volume, after a series of difficult campaigns marked by damaging, adverse conditions and smaller crops.

With harvesting in major production region Emilia-Romagna now complete, a new commercial campaign for the country’s prized pears now gets underway.

“The pear harvest, although not abundant, allows us to return to being the point of reference for all our main customers until the end of the commercial season,” Aldrovandi says.

“The quantities available are more than double compared to last year, although still far from the full production potential of our members. For the 2024/25 campaign we will have pears with optimal size, high organoleptic quality, and suitable shelf-life to cover the entire commercial season.”

Volumes of Abate Fetel, Italy’s most distinctive variety, are lower than forecast. However, Aldrovandi says a programme until April will be possible this season, unlike in recent years.

“The size and organoleptic parameters found allow us to be optimistic about the quality of the fruit that we will supply to customers,” he comments.

Summer congestion

The start of the campaign has not been easy, insists Aldrovandi. During the summer, he says, there was a large volume of imported product on the market as well as unsold Conference pears from Belgium and the Netherlands.

“The start was difficult, and new production initially struggled to find space,” he explains. “Furthermore, the summer temperatures that lasted until the beginning of September did not encourage consumption of pears.”

As autumn takes over, however, he says suppliers are confident that Opera La Pera’s B2B and B2C marketing activities will result in more pears being eaten.

“We want to relaunch our brand, emphasise the availability of quality Italian pears, and communicate to our stakeholders also through the new Opera La Pera LinkedIn page.”

Against the grain

Recent forecasts announced at the World Apple and Pear Association’s annual Prognosfruit meeting in Budapest pointed to a sharp decline in pear production across Europe, with shorter crops expected in Belgium (-26 per cent), Netherlands (-9 per cent), and Spain (-15 per cent).

Italy, in contrast, expects a 120 per cent increase – a dramatic number that in reality reflects how much production has been lost in recent years.

“All the primary pear producers are in sharp decline in production, unlike Italy,” Aldrovandi notes. “This lets us imagine a more favourable second part of the season for our product in terms of market conditions.”

Although the domestic market dominates sales of Italian pears, exports are vital. “Our main destination market is Germany, followed by France,” Aldrovandi points out. “The commercial dynamics and consumption habits of different countries are constantly evolving, as is the competition of the product coming from other production areas, and this requires constant monitoring and great flexibility in planning.”