Fresh Apples & Pears

Apples and pears by variety, diameter and count, from harvest or controlled atmosphere storage

Apples and pears are bought on variety, class, size and condition out of storage. The EU marketing standard (Regulation (EU) 2023/2429) sets a minimum apple size of 60 mm diameter or 90 g, with smaller fruit accepted down to 50 mm or 70 g if it reaches 10.5° Brix, and holds size uniformity within 5 mm for Extra Class and for Class I and II fruit packed in rows and layers; russeting and skin defects are graded by class. For pears the minimum diameters are 60 mm Extra Class and 55 mm Class I and II for large-fruited varieties, and 55, 50 and 45 mm for other varieties, or 130/110/110 g and 110/100/75 g by weight, with summer pears exempt. South African packers use an 18 kg carton with tray counts from about 80 to 120 fruit, alongside display cartons. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations put heading 0808 at USD 9.54 billion and 9.08 million MT. Fresh apples (0808.10) total USD 7.52 billion: China at 981,000 MT and an average USD 1,066/MT, Italy at 930,000 MT at USD 1,202, the USA at 897,000 MT at USD 1,210, Poland at 784,000 MT at USD 650, South Africa at 671,000 MT at USD 860, Chile at 554,000 MT at USD 1,086, New Zealand at 342,000 MT at USD 1,748, France at 335,000 MT at USD 1,406 and Turkiye at 317,000 MT at USD 606. Fresh pears (0808.30) total USD 2.82 billion: China at 643,000 MT at USD 940, Argentina at 334,000 MT at USD 764, Belgium at 315,000 MT at USD 1,177, South Africa at 261,000 MT at USD 933 and Chile at 109,000 MT.

Storage makes this a year-round trade. Apples and pears are carried at about -1 to +1°C for hard varieties (3°C for chilling-sensitive ones) at 90-95% relative humidity; they produce a lot of ethylene while ripening, keep two to seven months in cold store depending on variety, and controlled atmosphere at 1-3% oxygen and 1-3% carbon dioxide stretches storage to about ten months. US apples are picked from August to November and shipped for months afterwards from cold and CA stores; in the southern hemisphere Chile harvests from February to May, South Africa ships new-crop fruit from January, and New Zealand from March to May. Argentina's pears come from the Alto Valle of Río Negro and Neuquén, where Williams is about 45% of exports and Packham's Triumph about 35%, with the season opening on Williams in January. China shipped 707,000 MT of pears worth USD 630 million in 2025, largely Ya and other Asian pears to Southeast Asia, and Southeast Asia takes close to 60% of China's apple exports. The documents follow the destination: a phytosanitary certificate from the origin's plant protection organisation, GlobalG.A.P. certification for European retail, residues within the destination's maximum residue levels, and any orchard registration or treatment the importing country's protocol sets. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers apples and pears from packers and exporters in these origins against the phytosanitary certificate and an independent inspection of pressure, Brix and condition at loading where the buyer wants it. Cargo moves on FOB, CFR and CIF terms in reefer containers. Send the variety, class, count or diameter, carton type, volume and discharge port.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.