January 18 2007, 15:00

Pear is likely to become a more exotic fruit than banana or orange for Ukrainians

According to information provided by the specialists of "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" journal, some time ago pear was the second popular fruit after apples in the ration of the Ukrainians; now it has become almost exotic because of the reduced production and the price growth for this product. Even the wholesale price for quality pear reaches now $1.96-2.74/kg on Ukrainian wholesale markets; at the same time, it is possible to buy bananas, oranges and tangerines for $0.78-1.17/kg in retail. Also, the consumption of the tropic and exotic fruits has been exceeding many times as large the pear consumption since a long time ago.

The specialists point out that the commercial pear production is poorly developing despite of the high prices for pears. The heritage of the collective farms - the old pear orchards - is being gradually uprooted; there are almost no new orchards established. Most producers lay an emphasis on apple and peach trees. As a result of such trends, and also because of the negative effect of the frosts in January 2006 it will be difficult to find any pears of Ukrainian origin on the retail markets now.

The pears are predominantly supplied from Poland to Ukrainian market. However, the prices for this product have been significantly increased during the recent year despite of the decreased import tariff rate. The price jumped up 2.5 times approximately; it is the consequence of the pear harvest reduction in Poland and other EU countries and the demand growth for this product.

To the specialists' opinion, pear production is a rather good investment opportunity for the fruit producers. If the greater volumes of the relatively inexpensive pears are supplied on market, the demand for this product can significantly grow on Ukrainian market. Also, those producers, who have already had apple orchards, are able to effectively use the available equipment and infrastructure for apple post harvest handling and storage, and also the well-set sales channels if they establish and manage the intensive pear orchards planted with the modern varieties of this fruit.