"The first weeks of the new year on the pineapple market have gone great", says Hugo Vermeulen of the Dutch company, Cool Fresh International. "It has had the correct balance between supply and demand."
"This has resulted in the correct prices for this Costa Rican product. This is a relief for our fellow importers and us since 2018 was a horribly difficult year. Then there was major pressure on the volumes. This, in turn, placed enormous pressure on prices in almost the entire second half of the year."
"We have, however, noticed that the expected volumes are going to increase again in the coming weeks. The biggest brands are moving higher volumes back from the United States to the EU. We will have to wait and see what this will do to the price level", the importer continues.
"On the other hand, the Costa Rican melon and mango season has begun. This is having an effect on the space in container ships. This, in turn, effects the eventual availability of pineapples in Europe."
"The retail channels are also being well served. There are good planning of promotions at the various chains. This also ensures a more limited availability of pineapples on the free market", continues Hugo. "The current forecast and that of the coming weeks is the moderately positive."
"We are very pleased with the current production circumstances. They are providing a good availability of our usual and “Select” pineapples. We are going to offer these in open-top boxes over three weeks. This brings our range of RTE pineapples to three different, distinguishable production lines. This is beside our RFA certified Bon Sweet and Freedom Fruit pineapples."
