French pear forecast encouraging

Although a challenging year awaits French pear exporters, they have been cheered by a promising forecast from the ANPP

According to the Association Nationale Pommes Poires (ANPP), pear production in France this year is forecast at approximately 195,000 tonnes.

Although this represents a minor decrease compared with last campaign's 202,000 tonnes, it is significantly higher than the 157,000 tonnes cultivated two seasons ago.

A delay of eight days is expected for the Guyot variety, the ANPP reveals, while a slight retardment is equally anticipated for Williams pears.

As for exports, French growers have significant work to do to reconquer parts of the market that were suddenly lost in 2008.

Export volumes remained stable for the period between 2000 and 2007, until a large decrease occurred in 2008, since which time imports of pears into France have reportedly been increasing.

However, the decline in the production area of pears has been successfully halted and, according to the ANPP's Vincent Guérin, domestic consumption is currently on the up, meaning that perspectives for growers appear far better than in recent years.

According to statistics from the ANPP, around 70 per cent of French households purchase pears, ranking the fruit only eighth in comparison with other fruits.

However, pears perform better when it comes to volume bought per shop and number of purchases in a year. The first figure stands at 7.4kg, putting pears in sixth place, while the fruit is purchased an average of eight times a year, placing pears in fourth place.