This season's pear harvest in the European Union (EU-28) amounted to 2.17 million tons, i.e. nearly 9% less than in the previous year. In volume producers expect a decline of 224,000 tons.
This is reflected in the last report by the Association of Apples and Pears Europe (WAPA, its acronym in English) which also states that apple production, which amounted to just over 12 million tons, had an annual decline of 3%.
The lower volume expected across the Old Continent is good news for the Black River Valley and Neuquén, as much of this region's exports are destined to EU markets. Additionally, under normal conditions, producers can get better prices when there is a low volume.
Executives from the export sector consider these statistics as positive, but remain cautious and say they don't want to jump to conclusions because they don't known what quality the European fruit had this year nor how the production in the southern hemisphere will be. However, they are certain that things would be worse for the Valley if there had been a great harvest in the EU-28.
Upon analyzing the varieties of the EU-28, producers realized that there was a sensible decrease in production of the Conference and the Abate Fetel pear varieties; two varieties that compete in the European market with the supply of the southern hemisphere in the first half of the year. The Conference pear variety decreased by 5% while the production of Abate pears decreased by 13%. La Rocha, a pear variety of the Iberian Peninsula (especially Portugal) remains stable. Not a very good thing considering that the Brazilian production will be entering the market and competing with Argentina's cold pear within a few weeks.
With the exception of France, the major apple producing countries of the EU-28 had no serious crop losses. Poland, the most important country regarding volume- but not quality- forecasts its production will amount to 4.1 million tons, 4% more than the previous season.
