Pear Cider Growth Spurring Record Demand for UK Pears

Last year off trade sales began rocketing on the back of the great cider revival and that demand has swelled the value of the UK market from just £3.4m two years ago to a staggering £46m now.

26 Aug 2009 --- Pear cider has become so popular across the UK that it is creating record demand for home grown pears, according to leading retailer Tesco.

The once unfashionable yokel drink has now become such a multi million pound business that cider makers have been increasing pear orders to meet the demand.

It’s a remarkable turnaround for a drink that until a few years ago only had a small but dedicated following and was solely stocked by specialists.

Last year off trade sales began rocketing on the back of the great cider revival and that demand has swelled the value of the UK market from just £3.4m two years ago to a staggering £46m now.

So great is the demand that Tesco has seen volume sales double in the last year alone.

Accordingly it has increased its range from 11 to 16 different lines in the last year with a further five about to be launched.

Said Tesco beer and cider buyer Ian Targett: “In the last year pear cider has enjoyed a Cinderella like transformation to become the biggest success story of the UK drinks industry.

“It’s an amazing turnaround from just three years ago when only the bravest of major retailers, pubs and bars would stock it.

“For decades cider suffered from a downmarket image but people are now discovering there’s an amazing variety of flavours depending on what apples are used.

“And as with ale, which has also seen an incredible renaissance in recent years, people are starting to match ciders with dishes just as they do with wine.”

The pear industry itself has seen demand for processing and juice grow substantially in the last 12 months.

Norman Collett Ltd, one of the UK’s largest suppliers of pears says that in the last year it has seen demand for processing and juice grow by 25 per cent on account of the pear cider boom.

And the Gaymer Cider Company says demand for pears in the UK is particularly high at the moment and is outstripping expectations.

Peter Spencer, managing director of Gaymer Cider Company said: “As with many agricultural products the supply of pears is influenced by the harvest. Last year was a bad year and coupled with soaring demand for pear cider this has driven up prices.

“We have well established relationships with our pear suppliers due to our long history of producing perry and pear cider at our Shepton Mallet site.

“We remain confident that our long standing relationships with our farmers will provide us with a continued supply as the demand for pear cider continues.”

Added Tesco’s Ian Targett: “An important factor in the growth of pear cider is that the drink has been demystified.

“It used to be known as perry but now it has been remarketed as pear cider and people understand what they’re going to get.”

The UK’s main perry making region is Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire and perry from here has been given a European Union Protected Geographical Indication.

Independent retail analysts record that as of July 2009 the UK pear cider market is growing at 156 per cent year on year (volume sales). The UK pear cider market is worth £46 million a year. Three major brands are driving the growth – Bulmers, Gaymers and Kopparberg. In the last 12 months over 2.5 million consumers have bought pear cider which is an increase of nearly one millions consumers in total.