Country’s smallest crop since the late 1960s means volume of fruit for markets including Canada and Mexico will fall
Fresh pear exports from the US are expected to fall almost 23 per cent to 85,000 tonnes, their lowest level since the 1980s this season, after a more than 20 per cent downturn in production.
According to a new report released by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, this year’s crop is forecast at 470,000 tonnes, the lowest since 1967/68.
That means the country will move down the ranking from fourth to sixth in the world’s largest pear producers.
The anticipated export volume – most of which goes to Canada and Mexico – is half of what the US pear business shipped to foreign markets ten years ago, the report said.
“Output in Washington, normally the top pear-producing state, is projected to drop more than 30 percent and be a smaller harvest than Oregon,” it explained.
“A freeze in January damaged pear trees and continued cold weather during the spring blossom further limited volumes. This adverse weather compounds a decade-long trend of falling acreage in Washington.”
It added: “Oregon production is forecast down 15 per cent and California down 17 per cent, also due to damaging weather.”
In the first three months of the marketing year, exports have apparently declined by fell by more than 40 per cent compared with the same period of 2023/24.
The report also said that it was “unclear” whether other suppliers would make up the shortfall, with US imports projected to rise only slightly to 80,000 tonnes.
“While high US prices could attract Southern Hemisphere supplies that are normally directed to other markets (including the European Union and Russia), US import volumes have shown considerable stability in the past decade despite similar supply shocks.”
