08/09/05 The new threat to NW canned pears?

The Northwest canned pear industry for years has been concerned about the threat of low cost pears from South Africa cutting into market share. The concern has been so great that many in the industry have pushed members of Congress to end duty free entry of South African canned pears under the African Growth and Opportunity Act. But perhaps the concern about South African pear products was misplaced considering a more formidable competitor has taken South Africa's place. GRANDY: About the same time that South Africa started bothering us, China started a small level of imports into the U.S market. They have been priced below everyone for a number of years. Gradually, South Africa became less of a problem. And according to Jay Grandy of the Washington-Oregon Canning Pear Association, China now makes up about ninety-five per cent of canned pear imports coming into the U.S. So why did South Africa's threat of a few years back slowly fade away? GRANDY: The value of the Rand changed and other markets looked more promising to them than shipping into the U.S. especially when China was pricing below them. So what happened was those purchasers in the U.S. that were interested in importing pears at low price moved over to buy from China and South Africa's kind of faded out of the picture. So what does this new threat from China mean to our region's canned pear industry? More on that in our next program.