Apples and pears always have their ups and downs. Produce too many and prices fall, but turn out too few and they rise, in which case you run the additional risk that prices might end up too high and discourage buyers. If that happens, demand dries up and the industry is left with a build-up of stock and a bigger bill for its coldstorage running costs. Then, all too soon, everyone has too much fruit in storage and, suddenly, prices are low again.
If only there was a way to regulate the flow? Protected varieties have enjoyed some notable success on that front in the past decade, of course, and, as The Greenery’s topfruit manager Bert Wilschut tells the September issue of Eurofruit, licensed cultivars show a huge amount of promise. But for the mainstream, mass-produced, free varieties it’s a different story. No one season is the same, but on the eve of the World Apple and Pear Association’s official EU forecast last month (see our special report), the risk of a disruptive spike in prices following the expected dramatic downturn in production of both fruits was the major concern for topfruit suppliers.
Talk to any European apple or pear marketer on the record during their summer and their answers tend to be very non-commital; the interviewees adopt a wait-and-see policy before crossing their fingers that demand will remain at a good, sustainable level between late August and the New Year. Not too cold, not too hot – Goldilocks certainly knew a thing or too about the topfruit trade.
