PRICE 4IktbRENTIALS BETWEEN POLYETHYLENE AND STANDARD PACK ANJOU PEARS Li
H. M. Hutchings and G. B. Davis /2
Polyethylene liners were used commercially in packing winter pears for
the first time in 1953. Their ability to maintain quality and increase
storage and shelf life of the fruit has resulted in a tremendous increase
since then. About two out of three boxes of the 1956 winter pear crop from
the Pacific Coast states was packed in the lined boxes. In Oregon over
three-fourths was packed in this manner. The increase by states for other
years is shown below.
Winter Pears Packed in Polyethylene
Crop Year
1955
1954
(percent of pack)
Oregon
Washington
California
All three states
24
32
44
61
15
23
46
Use of the liner has made it possible for the pear industry to offer a
better product to consumers. Consumer and trade acceptance of the new product
has caused a substantial premium to be paid for the liner-packed fruit. The
charts on the following pages show this fact.
During March of the 1955-56 marketing season, the average premium at the
New York auction ranged from 50 cents to a dollar per box for the Anjou variety
from Medford, Oregon. Not only did the differential vary during the year, but
also between years. In the three crop years included in this report the price
differential tended to widen as the storage season progressed. This was especially evident for the 1953 and 1955 crops. At the close of the season the
differential amounted to as much as $2 to $3 per box. In the case of the 1954
crop, the premium for polyethylene packed pears did not reach the levels of
either the 1953 or 1955 packs. According to the pear industry, this could have
been attributed at least in part to storage disorders developing in some of the
polyethylene packed fruit. This condition has been corrected by new practices
developed through research.
The attached charts show the weekly average prices on the New York auction
for poly and non-poly packed Anjou pears from the Medford area, Oregon, and the
State of Ilashington for crop years 1953-1955. These data were obtained from an
analysis of the daily market reports of the New York auction. All sizes of
pears were included in the average prices. Sales information for other varieties and for the Hood River, Oregon, and California producing areas was
insufficient for this type of analysis.
/1 Miscellaneous Paper 40, Agricultural Experiment Station, Oregon State
— College, Corvallis, April 1957.
Basic data for this report was obtained through the cooperation of the
Oregon Washington-California Pear Bureau.
2 Research Assistant and Associate Agricultural Economist, Oregon Agricultural
Experiment Station.
/
!FORD PEARS
Chart 1. New York Auction Prices for Medford, Oregon, Poly and Non-poly Anjou
Pears, U.S. No. 1. (1953 Crop)
Price
per box
$7.00
- -
-
- Xx
Poly
- x -Non-poly
6.00i
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Chart 2. New York Auction Prices for Medford, Oregon, Poly and Non-poly Anjou
Pears, U.S. No. 1. (1954 Crop)
Price
per box
$7.00[
— - Poly
6,00
Non–po
X— X
4.00
3.00
2.00
7
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IDFORD FEARS
Chart 3. New York Auction Prices for Medford, Oregon, Poly and Non-poly Anjou
Pears, U.S. No. 1. (1955 Crop)
Price
per box
Poly
. .
- X -
6,00
Non-po
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WASHINGTON PEARS
York Auction Prices for Washington Poly and Non-poly Anjou Pears,
U.S. No. 1 and Extras. (1953 Crop)
New
Price
Per box
$7.00 —
--
Poly
Non poky
6■00
5.00
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WASHINGTON PEARS
Chart
5.
New York Auction Prices for Washington Poly and Non-poly Anjou Pears,
U.S. No. 1 and Extras. (1954 Crop)
Price
per box
— - Poly
No -pa
6.00
5.00 : xN
x-.
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x
1, •
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1.00 3.00
2.00
7
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Chart 6.
,.
•=4
Auction Prices for Washington Poly and Non-poly Anjou Pears,
U.S. No. 1 and Extras.
(1955 Crop)
Price
per box
$7.00 Poly...
6.00
5.00
—
X
-X — Non-poly. •• • .......
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