India becomes 4th largest market for South Africa for exports of pears to India with Forelle/Vermont Beauty push

India continues to become an important market for Forelle from South Africa. This year returns on Forelle was 20-23$ CNF as per carton in the later half of the year. There is always a supply shortage from week 40-50 from South Africa and during that time whoever packs forelle/Vermont makes 100% returns in Indian markets. Most RSA companies do not have stocks from week 40-50 so its very limited and due to that the returns from Indian markets are very high.

Supermarkets love it, the taste is just liked by Indians so much. The best part is the shelf life of the pear which makes it durable at the shelves of the supermarkets.Considering high demand and exciting growth prospects India has the potential to become the most important & most shipped market for this variety from South Africa.

This year RSA shipped close to 1.1 Million cartons of pears and 57% of the total shipments were Forelle/Vermont and rest were other pears including packhams which is stagnant at the moment and is not growing.

However Packhams are preferred only when Forelle is not available.

Forelle as a variety has grown significantly and the next coming season we can see it upto a million cartons for Forelle alone and the exporters will have a great opportunity to obtain high returns if harvested and shipped at the right moment.