A smaller pear crop along the west coast will mean higher prices this year, according to a forecast by Pear Bureau Northwest.
Pear prices should go up this year, as California and the Pacific Northwest expect smaller crops.
The Northwest produces 86 percent of the nation’s pears, and prices are affected by supply, the economy, and a tariff with Mexico.
As of May 28, there were 809,000 boxes of pears from the 2009 PNW crop yet to sell compared with 818,000 a year earlier, Bailey said. That shows the industry has done a very good job marketing the crop, given the challenge of record volume and the recession, she said.
PNW and California pear exports to Mexico are down 15 percent because of the tariff, said Jeff Correa, international marketing director of The Pear Bureau. The PNW has lost $16 million in sales to Mexico this year because of the tariff and $22 million since the tariff began, he said.
Read more at Capital Press.
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