By Dr Tahir Khurshid, research physiologist (tree crops), Department of Primary industry and regional development Dareton.

The production of high-quality pear fruit is critical to sustain and grow consumer demand in domestic markets.

Asia produces most of the world’s nashi fruit, and China is the leading country in production.

Consumers in Asian countries prefer sweeter and juicier fruit.

In highly competitive and consumer-driven markets, nashi growers must consistently supply fruit that meets or exceeds consumer expectations.

Demand for nashi fruit in Australia is increasing because of the consumer trend for healthier food options and increased immigration from Asian countries.

However, there are insufficient nashi varieties available in Australia.

In Australia, the most grown variety ‘Nijisseiki’ is a heavy bearer, and the thinning costs are higher.

The other most prominent late maturing variety with low inputs and high returns is brown skinned Shinko.

The unavailability of labour to thin fruit can also pose problems.

There is an urgent need to import nashi varieties which are self-thinning or have a low fruit bearing habit. This will reduce picking and thinning costs.

The varieties must be tolerant to bruising and scuffing and tolerant or resistant to various pests and diseases.

The varieties tolerant to bruising and scuffing will reduce postharvest losses.

The varieties must also have a prolonged storage period without the loss of internal fruit quality.

Nashi or Asian pears ( Pyrus pyrifolia ) are native to China, Japan and Korea and date from about the 16th Century.

Nashi, an Asian delicacy for centuries, was originally brought to Australia by Chinese gold miners in the 1850s.

Nashi has been produced commercially in Australia for the past 25 years, and the locally grown nashi is a marked improvement on the original varieties.

In Australia, nashi is only grown for fresh consumption.

A smooth green-yellow fruit picked ripe to eat, and the major variety, Nijisseiki, is available in supermarkets and greengrocers from March to October.

The top five pear-producing countries are China, Italy, the US, Argentina and Turkey.

The estimated total world production for pears in 2024 was 23,109,219 metric tonnes. 

China was the largest producer, accounting for more than twice the rest of the world combined (approximately 70 per cent).

In 2024 the total nashi production in Australia was 1679 tonnes with a total value of $6.4 million.

The wholesale value of the fresh nashi supply was $19.5 million with $17.6 million distributed into retail and $1.9 million into food services.

Eight per cent of households in Australia purchased fresh nashi, buying an average of 434 g per shopping trip. Thus, the supply capita was 129g, based on the supplied volumes.

About 84 per cent (1410 tonnes) of Australia’s nashi production comes from Victoria’s Goulburn Valley, with approximately 20 commercial growers throughout the country.

The area or production and total yield per state are given in Table 1.

Australia imports nashi fruit from China and South Korea.

In the 2024 growing season, the total import was 2695 tonnes. This means Australia imported twice as much fruit as it produced.

Therefore, new varieties need to be introduced to extend the growing area and increase production.

Australia needs to look at exporting nashi overseas to niche markets in Asia.

Information on consumer preferences and motivators for purchase are important in that process.

In general, varieties which look appealing will prompt consumers to buy, while enjoyable flavour, texture and appearance will encourage them to repeat purchases.

Varieties have a profound influence on several aspects of nashi fruit including quality, yield, crop load and precocity. However, there are no Australian research recommendations available that indicate which variety will be tolerant to bruising or scuffing.

There are also no self-thinning varieties available in Australia to help growers manage crops to produce higher yields with enhanced fruit size.

A review conducted in 2022 looked at cost-effective methods of fruit thinning in nashi crops.

However, no experimental trials on nashi pear thinning have been conducted in Australia.

Previous studies of hand-thinning were successfully conducted to manage crop load, increase fruit size and adjust the next year’s flowering in navel crops.

Issues identified by the Nashi industry

The following issues were identified to be addressed in the new nashi project NA22000 – Access to new varieties for Australian Nashi growers, which are briefly given below.

Currently there are brown and green types of nashi fruit available in Australia.

Brown nashi fruit

There are two main varieties produced, ‘Hosui’ is an early maturing and ‘Shinko’ is mid-late to late maturing.

These brown varieties are popular among the Korean population living in Australia.

Green nashi fruit

There are four main green varieties produced, Hakka is early maturing, Indiana Pearl is mid maturing, Nejisseiki is mid to late maturing and Kosui is also mid to late maturing.

However, Nejisseiki remains the most popular growing nashi fruit in Australia.

Green nashi fruit are popular among mainstream Australians and Japanese populations living in Australia.

Flowering

The industry is looking into the varieties which have low flower and fruit set and are easy to handle compared to the high flowering/fruit set vigorous variety Nejisseiki.

A variety that responds positively to chemical flower/fruit thinning or flower suppression techniques is also needed. Currently, the response of the existing varieties to chemical thinning has not been very positive.

Fruit skin

The other issue the industry has identified is the thinner skin of the nashi fruit.

Currently, the available nashi variety Nijisseiki has thin skin and is very prone to bruises and scuffing and causes postharvest losses in the field and storage.

Picking and packing processes are carried out by hand to avoid skin bruising.

There is a need for varieties with thick (tougher) skin that are tolerant to bruising and scuffing.

This will reduce in-field losses during harvesting and postharvest losses during packing and storage.

Varieties with tougher skin may also be suitable for semi and/or full automation on a packing line, reducing sorting/grading and packing costs and increasing overall efficiency.

Storage and eating qualities:

Both brown and green type nashi varieties are stored in CA storage, but over time they lose their eating quality. Therefore, a variety with good storage attributes without the loss of internal eating quality will be preferred.

The above issues need to be addressed in a recently Hort Innovation funded project led by Dr Tahir Khurshid (DPIRD).

The ultimate outcome of this research is to undertake the evaluation of new varieties in field trials at research station/growers’ properties followed by the assessment of postharvest performance.