There has been a shortage on the pineapple market the past few weeks. “In the 28th week, the market has been improving and this will continue for at least another month,” expects Frank Ocampo of Hagé International. “The pineapple sales usually stagnate during summer, but the situation has changed due to an earlier and shorter natural flowering. Large sizes are hardly available and I expect that there will be the largest shortages yet in week 35 and 36.”
“Many importers cannot fulfil their programmes which creates an unusually high demand. The price of the larger sizes is somewhere around 14 or 15 Euro, size 8 is sold for 12 to 14 Euro, and even the smaller sizes are sold for 11 to 12 Euro,” says Frank. “It seems like 2016 will be an unusually good year for pineapples. During the past 32 weeks, there were only 5 weeks that ran at a deficit the rest was very profitable.
Costa Rica controls the market
Besides, the pineapple importers do not really have a choice, according to Frank. “Costa Rica controls the market, followed by Panama. The volumes from countries such as Ecuador and Colombia are generally not Global GAP certified and that is a necessity for us. In addition, Ecuador has a transit time to Europe that takes an extra week. We might expect pineapples from a country such as Colombia in about three years. Besides, there is also supply from North African countries, even though they mostly produce sub varieties that are more coloured and less in demand on the market.”
Organic pineapples are not popular at Hagé International. “From many producers we hear that the organic pineapple production, often in combination with Fairtrade, is manipulated. By day, they are organic plantations and by night, they are traditional plantations. Besides, the price of the organic pineapple is higher than the traditional product, sometime even doubled. With the current prices, these heights are not realistic,” says Frank. According to him, the sales of the crownless pineapple are not taking off, apart from the British retail and the vegetable processors.
Increasing cultivation for juicing industry
An important development in the Costa Rican pineapple production is that many growers switch to cultivation for the juicing industry. “A large demand for pineapples is coming from the processing industry. The size of the pineapples does not matter and many producers are paid better, especially for sizes 8-10, than when they pack them for export with all the associated risks,” says Frank.
“There is another development going on in Costa Rica, the small and medium producers are slowly disappearing from the pineapple scene. These are taken over by pineapple multinationals who try to monopolize the pineapple with their brands attached. We strive to continue working with the small and medium pineapple growers to support this group and to ensure the quality of the pineapples. It is more important for our customers to have quality products with the associated certifications regarding sustainable trade than to have a certain brand.”
According to Frank, there are extra sales due to the increasing demand of the industry, which is a good thing for the market, but it can also be risky. “This resulted in many Costa Ricans planting on the off chance. It takes about a year before those pineapples reach the market. Let us hope that the demand from the industry keeps increasing, otherwise the pineapples will flood the market and everyone will start importing pineapples en masse. Then we will risk the same scenario as last year’s Brazilian melons.
