The top fruit season is calm at the moment. "Traditionally we've always focused on Eastern Europe, but export isn't going crazy yet," Paul Peters says. "In Germany, they want to get rid of their own harvest due to scab and toughness, and there's a lot of pressure on the market. It's possible that will be to our advantage in the long run, but currently not many apples are going there. We used to be able to sell the larger Jonagold well in Russia, but we're also missing out on that market now. There's plenty in storage in the Netherlands, especially when taking into account that picking took place three weeks later. And it looks as though we could start picking two weeks earlier, and then you can easily miss five weeks, or ten percent of the season."
With pears, the Doyenné du Comice season is nearing its end, and the Lukassen season is ending as well, leaving only the Conference pears. "I expect sales of the thicker sizes will continue, because the first picking of Conference turned out a bit smaller," Paul says. "And in terms of export it's not great yet. Some Conference pears are going to Germany for retail, Poland is mainly in the market for unsorted produce. There they pay 40 cents for Conference now, and 30 cents for Lukassen. Fortunately there's a healthy demand for pears from Southern Europe. All in all, it's a special year again."
