European top fruit sales are not yet running smoothly. "Apple sales are particularly slow. As part of promotions, they sell well, but everything else is still struggling," observes the Dutch top fruit trader Aart Blom of Fruitpartners Blom. "I expect inflation to favorably affect apple and pear sales. People are usually more likely to buy 'basic fruit' than luxury items, but sales aren't wild either."
"The pear market's picking up at the moment, though. Auction prices have also risen in recent weeks. However, the large and small sizes' prices differ significantly. The 55-65 gradings are selling for around €.60; the larger ones for between €0.80 and €0.90. But, when you add the unsorted fruit's wood prices and refrigeration costs, you make almost nothing. Over the last few years, it's become increasingly crucial that you're well into retail programs. Outside of that, it becomes a tricky story," says Aart.
"Belgium, in particular, had many smaller pears for a long time. These had to be cleared first, which put pressure on the market for a while. By now, most of those are off the market. Comice pears sales have been good from the start. They were already being sold to Spain while they were being picked."
"Demand for Lukassen is only starting, and it was very quiet until last week. Conference sales have been reasonably good. That remains a question of supply and demand. As long as, especially, the southern European countries have a lot of pears to sell, it will remain difficult to increase prices," Aart continues.
"We export most of our pears. One worrisome development is that Poland's planting more and more of these. It was always said their climate made that tough, but extreme frost is less and less of a threat, so that's succeeding more and more. In other years, Poland still bought our pears; now, that's hardly ever."
Will prices recover? "if that happens, it will have to be now, in November. In December, leading up to the holidays, there's generally not that much movement in the top fruit market," explains Blom. "Renewed steps are usually taken in January. I can often gauge how the market will develop, but that's hard to estimate this year. Fortunately, our top fruits have good flavor and quality, and both apples and pears' are sweet. That can't be the reason for the current situation with Elstar, though, we have to wonder if we can offer these apples year-round after the dry, hot summer," Aart concludes.
