Pear export opportunities in Russia

 

Since the US made inroads into the Russian pear market, opportunities have increased for Australian growers and exporters in Russia. 

 

It is a unique market as there are two markets within Russia for Pears – Western Russia and the East Russia.  US Pears growers began shipping to Western Russia in sizeable volumes 6 years ago and in 2007/8 reached 350,000 cartons. 
 

In western Russia there is a much shorter window of availability for US Pears, 3 months, November through January, due to the competition from European pear suppliers and the Southern hemisphere pears. It has evolved into a market that will take a range of grades, but still prefers the bigger sizes. 
 

In East Russia consumers prefer the medium size pears (sizes 90’s to 110s) and a mix of grades, and there is also a greater acceptance of some of the smaller produced varieties, like Forelle, Comice and Bosc.  However both markets have a strong preference for the Red and Green Anjou varieties.  

Some of the difficulties in exporting to Russia include payment problems with importers and the lack of available credit for importers, delays at the ports, and lack of familiarity with foreign exporters and many of the new importers in Russia. 
 

Like Australia, the US pears are the most expensive pears in the market, but with the aid of in-store sampling promotions and trade merchandising importers are confident in handling the pears and help convince consumers to buy US branded Pears.