Good Pear Crop Expected, But Trade Remains A Concern

Pear Bureau Northwest is out with their first fruit estimate of the 2018 crop.  PBNW’s Kathy Stephenson said they expect 18.9 million boxes, or 415,000 tons, of fresh pears to be harvested this year, an 18% year over year increase.

“So this crop by no means is a record, it’s a health and strong crop, and we’re expecting good quality we’ve had terrific summer growing seasons in the last couple of years, nice warm days resulting in a good sized crop.”

Stephenson said this is exciting news for growers who have had to endure three years in a row of below average harvests.  She also noted the organic harvest will be larger this year, at 1.6 million boxes, which comes out to 36,000 tons.  Stephenson notes organic production now accounts for 8.7% of the entire Northwest crop.

While the early harvest numbers appear good, there are concerns, namely trade.  Stephenson said in the wake of Mexico’s announced tariffs against U.S. apples, they will be watching trade, specifically NAFTA very closely.

“We know the apple industry is probably going to be targeted first, just because of the size of that market, but often pears certainly could be put into the bundle because of their relationship with growers and shippers as well.  So far, pears have not been included but we certainly are very concerned for apples because those are our same growers often, and are certainly part of the same family, there’s no question.”

Mexico and Canada are the top two destinations for Northwest pears.

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