In this installment of the ‘In Charts' series, Cristian Crespo F. of Agronometrics illustrates how the U.S. market is evolving. Each week the series looks at a different horticultural commodity, focusing on a specific origin or topic visualizing the market factors that are driving change.

For the last nine years, there has been a star variety in the U.S. pear market in terms of prices - Stark Crimson. As can be seen in the chart below, the cultivar's average prices have been head and shoulders above the rest.

In 2018, the prices were US$2.61 per kilogram on average - a whole US$1 higher than the next closest variety, Summer Bartlett.

Historical average pear prices in the U.S. over the last nine years, by variety

(Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

This year has been no exception for Stark Crimson. The price peak came in week 30, with an average of US$3.19 per kilogram, far above other cultivars. 

In the chart below, we can also see that the variety's season is short in relation to other varieties, which can be in supply year-round. Stark Crimson is only present in the market between August and September. The season this year was particularly short, lasting only six weeks.

Weekly average prices of pears in the U.S. during 2019

(Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

In our ‘In Charts’ series, we work to tell some of the stories that are moving the industry. Feel free to take a look at the other articles by clicking here.

You can keep track of the markets daily through Agronometrics, a data visualization tool built to help the industry make sense of the huge amounts of data that professionals need to access to make informed decisions. If you found the information and charts from this article useful, feel free to visit us at www.agronometrics.com where you can easily access these same graphs, or explore the other 20 fruits we currently track.