The French pear campaign is drawing to a close. Vincent Guérin, in charge of business affairs for the Association Nationale Pommes Poires, provided an initial assessment of the campaign.
A healthy market in a deficit-ridden European context
"The main part of the campaign is over", says Vincent Guérin. Although the French harvest was down slightly this year, with a total of 105,000 tons, the deficit in Europe, and in particular the drastic drop in Italian volumes, has benefited the French pear, as the market has become "lighter". "However, a more active dynamic has been observed over the last few weeks of the campaign". Volumes may be lower, but the quality has managed to "satisfy French distribution, with some very positive feedback".
Comice stocks are now winding down, while the Conference should be around for a few more weeks, and the Angys until May.
"Sales have been satisfactory overall, with fair and stable price levels, and especially higher than last year". Prices were better than last year, but once again failed to cover rising production costs.
Growing pear orchards
"French pear supply is currently on an upward trend. Surface areas have increased by 5% in 2023 compared to 2022 - for Williams, Qtee, Fred, and Angys varieties - "which will force the industry to organize the varietal calendar to best distribute volumes both upstream and downstream". This developing orchard is perfectly in line with demand. "We're still in a context where French consumers favor French origin, yet we're not self-sufficient, so this supply-demand ratio is very favorable to French production".
Fighting francization
The ANPP is continuing the work it has already begun to identify environmentally responsible French orchards and to combat fraud, particularly about cases of francization, which are multiplying. "We are calling for mandatory identification of origin in all distribution channels. This is already the case for retail sales, but we'd like to see it extended to wholesalers, catering and processed fruit products".
For further information, please contact
Vincent Guérin
Association Nationale Pommes Poires
7 rue Biscornet - 75012 PARIS
Tel: +33 (0) 1 53 10 27 80
Fax: +33 (0)1 53 10 27 88
v.guerin@pommespoires.fr
contact@lapomme.org
www.lapomme.org