The Rocha pear is one of the staple products that Portugal grows, says Tomás Ferreira Head of Commercial, Logistics and Marketing for Portuguese fruit exporter Granfer: "The Rocha pear, which is our main product at Granfer, is truly a delicious and unique fruit, and it has kept the same characteristics that it had 188 years ago, when it was first discovered. It's undoubtedly an extraordinary pear in terms of taste, texture as well as shelf life."
For the current Portuguese pear season, all seemed well when the forecasts were published in June. However, Ferreira acknowledges the situation has changed since then, and not for the better. "For Portugal's top fruit season, we've seen good quality fruits this year, as well as good sizes. Back in June, when Interpera's first forecasts hit, we were expecting to bounce back from last year's fall in production. Unfortunately, due to the appearance of the dark spots and just not having as much acreage as we used to here in Oeste, it will be quite a small crop for the Rocha pear, quite similar to last year's production."
Thankfully, Granfer isn't solely relying on the specific orchards with problems, as they have multiple orchards with multiple pear-varieties, Feirreira states. "We do work with Rocha and other pear varieties in different regions in Portugal and Spain, which helps us to mitigate risk, but the current scenario for the main producing region and main pear variety shows us we have a couple of challenges ahead in the next years. Looking at overall pear production, volumes will likely be equal, but possibly even a bit less, especially for Rocha. We have slightly more volume of other winter varieties, but these are relatively new investments."
Weather conditions have contributed to challenges during cultivation, as the lack of cold temperatures has made it harder for flowering, Feirreira explains: "The weather has given us higher than usual temperatures combined with high humidity as well. These factors help proliferate threats to our orchard during the summer months. Also, the lack of cold hours during the winter has made it harder to have good flowering and proper hibernation for the fruit trees."
Granfer hopes to get more of a foothold in the Middle Eastern market for their pears. "For us at Granfer, Europe and the Americas are the main export markets. We're also developing other markets, like the Middle East with our summer pears, and have started supplying two countries recently in West Africa, with our wide array of pear varieties," Ferreira says.
Overall, the last Rocha pear season in Portugal was a very difficult one. According to Ferreira, this had to do with multiple factors: "The previous pear season was rather difficult. We had to deal with fire blight, dark spots and sunburn, so last year brought a bundle of some of the worst challenges we could imagine. The fire blight definitely compromised the short-term potential for Rocha pear in the Oeste region, the orchards are halved, either because trees were chopped in half or completely removed to control the blight. The dark spots and sunburn also appeared near the harvest season, further reducing the total yield."
Despite the challenging Rocha pear season last year, the clientele is really loyal and committed to the product, Ferreira states. "We're hoping for the best season possible with the current available yield, delivering approximately the same quantities available last year to our long-time Rocha clients. We really have a great consumer base for Rocha which we are very grateful for. Still, we're always looking towards the future and new markets, especially as Granfer keeps investing in more plantations and other varieties."
Granfer has also started their apple season, and Ferreira expects it to be a thrilling season: "Next to pears, we also have our apple season and it is looking to be an exciting season. We have new plantations, new growers and new markets. Our total volumes are also expected to be slightly higher than they during the previous season. Our apples are exported to the Americas, West Africa and the Middle East, we are actively looking for new clients in each of these markets."
Ferreira emphasizes that the Portuguese apple has come a long way in terms of popularity. The apples are exported to various continents. "We have a wide range of apples, from Premium Alcobaça Gala, Fuji, Candine® which is a club variety as well as standard Gala apples, among others, which fit different customer profiles and budgets. We basically have an apple for everyone. Portuguese apples are becoming more and more known, and our Alcobaça Apple - Maçã de Alcobaça has conquered a well-deserved place as a high-quality apple in European, American and African markets."
Overall, Ferreira is excited for the complete Portuguese top fruit season: "We trust that our ongoing investments and a favourable market this year will support us in further reaching our goals and delivering our crunchy red and green variety apples to new consumers. Our aim is to fulfil the expectation of our apple consumers, particularly all of the Alcobaça Apple fans, as well as to develop our other lines and varieties. It will also be important to gain the trust of our clients in the new markets."
For more information:
Tomás Ferreira
Granfer
Tel: +351 910 200 993
Email: [email protected]
www.granfer.pt