Portugal’s Rocha pear season got off to an early start this year, with good fruit size and sugar levels supporting the opening weeks of the campaign. Alexandre Leandro of Portuguese fruit exporter Central Frutas do Painho says the company’s packhouse has been operating at full pace since the start of the harvest.

The harvest in the Oeste region began before 15 August, around a week earlier than usual. “It’s been a positive start. The harvest in the Oeste began this year before 15 August, which is unusual, and roughly a week earlier than normal. The fruit coming into our packhouse shows good size and very good sugar levels, which helps a lot commercially. Our lines have been running at full pace since the start of the campaign,” Leandro says.

According to Leandro, production is also expected to recover compared with last season, although the final results are still pending. “Production is expected to be higher than last season, although we’re still waiting for final results. That would be good news, because 2025 was the fourth consecutive year below the sector’s productive potential. ANP members harvested around 116,000 tonnes in 2025, roughly half of the 2021 crop. A normal year is around 200,000 tonnes, so we are still well below that level.”

© Central Frutas do Painho

Weather conditions have generally supported this year’s crop, although the accelerated ripening has also created logistical pressure during harvest. “The weather has been mostly favourable this year. The high temperatures in recent weeks accelerated ripening and increased fruit size, and sugar levels are good for marketing. The flip side is a compressed harvest window, so we needed to bring fruit in and into storage quickly to protect quality and storability. In previous years, adverse weather lowered productivity and created conditions for pests. Climate variability remains the biggest structural risk for Rocha,” Leandro explains.

Central Frutas do Painho also sees opportunities to develop its presence in Canada and Libya: “For the sector, 58% of production is exported, with Brazil, Germany, the UK, Morocco and France as the main markets. We currently have a similar presence in all of them. We are also active in Canada and Libya, and those markets have become strategic alternatives for Rocha. We want to keep growing there and will use trade fairs such as Fruit Attraction to strengthen relationships with retailers,” Leandro says.

Labour and fire blight add pressure
Despite the positive start, labour availability remains a major concern for growers and packers. Leandro also points to fire blight as another structural challenge following its impact on production and orchard sanitation costs.

“Labour is the main one. Recruiting workers has become harder, as migrant workers leave for other countries and entry processes for agricultural work are difficult,” he explains. “A second challenge is fire blight, which had an unprecedented impact on production and orchard sanitation costs in recent seasons. Combined with a shrinking production base, this puts real pressure on growers. We deal with this through early planning of harvest teams, close coordination with our growers, and more automation and monitoring in the packhouse and cold stores.”

Higher operating costs are also affecting the logistics of exporting pears, particularly to long-haul destinations, Leandro states: “Freight, energy, packaging and labour have all risen, and long-haul markets are the most exposed. Brazil, Canada and Libya depend heavily on sea freight costs and container availability. We manage this by consolidating loads, planning shipments further ahead, negotiating monthly agreements with carriers where possible, and keeping close control of consumables and stock. Not all of this can be passed on to the customer, so efficiency inside the operation is essential.”

Focus on storage and quality control
Investment in the operation has focused on maintaining pear quality throughout a long marketing period, with storage and monitoring systems playing a central role, Leandro emphasizes: “Our focus has been on storage and quality control. That means controlled-atmosphere (DCA) and cold storage, plus continuous temperature and atmosphere monitoring in our rooms, which lets us supply Rocha with consistent quality over a long marketing season. We are currently upgrading the IT infrastructure of our technical room, which supports these monitoring systems and the grading line, to improve reliability and data security.”

For the remainder of the campaign, Leandro expects the combination of higher volumes and good eating quality to support exports into spring. “We are cautiously optimistic. With more volume, good size and good eating quality, we expect a steady export programme through to spring. The key will be keeping quality consistent right to the end of the season and continuing to open doors in new markets,” he concludes.

Central Frutas do Painho will exhibit during Fruit Attraction in Madrid. You can find their booth in Hall 8, stand 8D08.

For more information:
Alexandre Leandro
Central Frutas do Painho
Tel: +351 919 438 630
[email protected]
www.cfpainho.com