The South African pear crop is likely to be some 10-15 per cent down this season and to start slightly later than usual.
According to Martin Dunnett of Capespan, fruit will start arriving in the UK next week. “There were a couple of cold snaps pre-Christmas which delayed maturation,” he said. “This meant that fruit has been slower to get to the right sugar levels. The first Williams should arrive on January 25, with bigger volumes coming in the week after that and running well throughout February.”
The market is reasonably healthy for the new South African season. “Rocha volumes have been lower this year and that fruit is moving well, which will help sales,” added Dunnett.
Movement of European Conference out of storage is also fairly steady at this mid-way stage in the European campaign.
South Africa once again has high hopes for its blush pears.
Rosemarie is expected to start in mid-February and go through until March with Flamingo scheduled to commence picking around the same time but with a longer window until April.
Unfortunately, these lines hit the market at a time when there is plenty of choice in the pear aisles and variety range is at its peak.
As a result they have to jostle for retail positioning. However, Forelle, which has the longest window of any blush type, is expected to fair better when it comes on stream in early May and runs right through until August as the only blush type available.
