The Low Countries form key sources for top fruit across Europe and, with producers in the Netherlands and Belgium opting out of apples and moving to pear production, they are becoming increasingly important to the UK market.
Prospects for the Dutch and Belgian top-fruit season look promising, with warm temperatures in April bringing on the flowering period earlier than usual and volumes from both countries hitting the market some two to three weeks ahead of last year.
Forecasts from Prognosfruit show that, in the Netherlands, apple production is set to jump 12 per cent to 391,000 tonnes, and pear supply is up six per cent to 150,000t, while in Belgium, the apple offer is expected to dip two per cent to 348,000t and pear volumes will rise four per cent to 180,000t.
Both harvests will start earlier than usual and, despite hail damage in some areas, a high-quality crop and an increase in fruit size is anticipated.
The predictions for the Netherlands and Belgium have bucked the forecast for the European Union, overall, which anticipates that the new apple and pear season will see a 17 per cent drop in the volume of store apples, and a three per cent decrease in the supply of store pears, following three spells of night frosts across parts of eastern Europe in April. Poland, the largest apple-producing country in the EU, will see volumes halved.
Koen Torfs, managing director of Profruco, one of the auctions in the Lava Group, is anticipating a small rise in top-fruit prices this season, following higher average auction prices for apples and a drop in pear prices last year. “Thanks to the beautiful weather we had in April, western Europe was spared any night frost,” he says. “In most of the old member states, the size of the apple crop will be stable or even considerably better.”
But making predictions about price in the new season is not easy. Prognosfruit forecasts pointed to considerably higher prices for apples this season, on account of the anticipated 17 per cent dip in supply across Europe, but Torfs believes only a small increase is on the cards. “The overall volume of two-tone quality varieties is increasing in western Europe - four per cent for Jonagold, seven per cent for Gala, and as much as 35 per cent for Fuji - so there won’t be any shortfall there,” says Torfs. “Consequently, I’m expecting just a small price increase for apples.”
But better quality and larger fruit will probably push up prices, he adds. “I’m expecting prices to remain at this slightly higher level throughout the season,” says Torfs. “During the second half of last season there was a deterioration in the quality of pear stocks as a result of the hot weather in July 2006, and this caused prices to fall from February on. However, I do not expect there to be any quality problems in the new season.”
Bart Wijgaerts at Belgian auction Veiling Haspengouw says the season made a strong start. “We are having a very good season, with very good-quality fruit, good sugar content and good sizes for both apples and pears,” he says.
The erratic weather seen across Europe this summer has not had too much of an impact on the top-fruit crop in either the Netherlands or Belgium. “Although there was some damage to the apple crop caused by hail, the lovely weather in April and the near-perfect wet conditions in July will definitely have a positive impact on quality,” Torfs says. “So I am expecting the quality of our apples to be normal, and buyers can certainly rely on getting the size of fruits they have been used to for the past few years.”
Both growers and exporters are upbeat, says Thom van Schaik at Dutch co-operative Fruitmasters. “The market is looking a lot better than this time last year, and the quality, in particular, is much improved,” he says.
“Production conditions were very favourable this year, with good temperatures, a lot of rain, and no frost in the early part of the season,” he adds. “But we have had some hail damage.”
Fruitmasters sells some 130 million kilos of apples and 65m kg of pears in an average season. The grower-owned co-operative exports 10 per cent of its pear offer to the UK, alongside eight to 10 per cent of its apple production.
The UK market only makes up a modest proportion of exports from the Netherlands, with more emphasis put on the rest of Europe. “The UK market has its own supply of apples at a similar time and that is why it is not a massive market for us,” van Schaik says. “But pears are the big one for the UK market.”
Producers in the Benelux countries are looking to pear production to boost their offer and secure better returns, following consistently low prices in the apple market. The area earmarked for apple production is expected to fall by 200 hectares in both the Netherlands and Belgium this year, offset by a 200ha increase in pear production.
Belgian top-fruit growers, in particular, are increasingly switching from apple to pear production, and this has triggered the slight drop in the 2007-08 Belgian apple crop and boosted volumes of new-season pears.
Belgium has become the third-largest pear producer in the EU, behind only Italy and Spain, with production set to reach the 280,000-tonne mark. Production of Conference pears has more than doubled since 1998, and they have fetched relatively high prices in the past few years. “For the past six years, the Belgian planted area devoted to pears has increased by a massive 10 per cent a year,” says Torfs.
“The success of our Conference is down to the ideal blend of soil and climate,” he adds. “Only Benelux growers manage to produce elongated Conference pears with a rich, juicy flavour. The southern European version is round and squat.”
The star of the Belgian top-fuit category this season is the Conference pear, which makes up 87 per cent of pear production in the country. Growers are anticipating that quality this season will be excellent and that sizes will be bigger than last year. “I have already seen some beautiful Conference pears, with a very smooth texture and an excellent sugar content,” says Torfs. Most of the Belgian crop will once again consist of large- and medium-sized fruit, which is good news for buyers. I am also expecting the quality of other varieties to be very good.”
The move towards pear production in Belgium has meant that growers have made only a modest move towards producing more of a range of apple varieties, with Jonagold still making up 49 per cent of the crop. “The shift there has of course been curbed somewhat by the switchover to growing pears, but I can still see three clear trends,” Torfs says. “First and foremost, a resurgence in Golden Delicious; second, a slight increase in new varieties such as Kanzi, Belgica and Junami; and, third, new mutants of traditional varieties, such as Picova or early varieties of Braeburn.
“Growers in Belgium are not switching to one single dominant variety, as they once did with Jonagold, but to multiple varieties. That is also what buyers are looking for.”
Top-fruit producers in the Netherlands, like those in Belgium, have invested in increasing pear production in response to market demand but, according to van Schaik, growth will start to level off soon. “There has been a trend which has seen Dutch growers switch to pears in the last five years, but this will stop now,” he says. “We are looking at a potential problem - we have reached capacity for selling Conference pears.
“The variety has been a good business for growers over the last 10 years, but then everyone started to grow them and this is how we have come to this situation.
“Growers have started to grow different apple varieties, such as Kanzi and Greenstar, but not a lot is happening on the pear side - there is definitely room for development, and we are always looking for something new.”
Belgium and the Netherlands are two of the most important countries for the production of Conference pears, says Wijgaerts, and the increase of volumes available means that producers and exporters are seeking to open up new markets outside of Europe, including China, to strike a balance between supply and demand. “We do not see the Netherlands as competitors,” he says. “The market is big enough, and we want to work together.”
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