The first domestic Konferencja pears are now available for sale.

Last week, the first batches of Konferencja pears from this year's harvest entered the Polish market. This marks the beginning of the season, and the quantities offered are currently very small, almost negligible. It's worth noting that this is a very early start to the season, as Konferencja pears from local orchards usually don't reach the market until September. However, this year's early start to the marketing campaign is not surprising.

What about the pricing situation in the Polish wholesale pear market? It's difficult to compare prices with last year, as the season began late then. However, it seems that prices may be slightly lower this year despite lower yields year over year.

Currently, the first batches of Konferencja pears are being offered by producers at 3.00-4.00 PLN/kg (0.70-0.94 EUR/kg). Most commonly, prices are between 3.50-4.00 PLN/kg (0.82-0.94 EUR/kg), but there are offers at 3.00 PLN/kg (0.70 EUR/kg), resulting in an average of 3.50 PLN/kg (0.82 EUR/kg). Last year, by mid-September 2023, this average stood at 3.75 PLN/kg (0.88 EUR/kg).

source: own elaboration based on GUS data

According to GUS estimates, pear harvests this year are expected to be at 74.2 thousand tons, which is 6 percent less than in 2023. Despite this decline, as shown in the chart above, this year's harvest is not particularly low compared to the past nine years. In fact, the average from those previous nine seasons is 72.2 thousand tons, so this year's harvest would be nearly 3 percent higher than that long-term average.

How are the prices of other domestic pear varieties shaping up in the large wholesale market? There is a clear decrease in interest in the early Faworytka (Klapsa) variety. Its prices have dropped to the range of 2.00-3.50 PLN/kg (0.47-0.82 EUR/kg), which is 39 percent lower than the peak prices of the current season. The Patten variety is also already available on the domestic market, with producer prices also at 2.00-3.50 PLN/kg (0.47-0.82 EUR/kg).