The pineapple market in April saw a rather tight situation. After Easter, there was a downturn in demand. However sales remained fairly fluid in the first half-month since the overall Sweet supply was heavily disrupted by various shipping delays, which relieved the pressure on the markets. The operators however had to adjust their prices downward to remains fluid and best manage the supply irregularity. The lack of demand vitality throughout the month least affected operators associated with the supermarket sector. They managed without too much difficulty to maintain more or less stable rates, while those which were outside of these circuits had to heavily adjust the price lever to prevent stocks from forming.
The situation was also fairly tight on the air-freight market. The post-Easter dip in demand was aggravated by the start of the school holidays. On the Cayenne market, the low coloration and quality concerns over the Beninese supply particularly benefitted the Ivoirian and Cameroonian fruits, not necessarily more coloured but distinctly more regular in terms of quality. So several operators opted to heavily scale back their imports pending an improvement in demand. On the Sugarloaf market the lack of coloration of the Beninese supply helped the more coloured fruits from Ghana and Togo earn better value. At the end of the month, the big reduction in imports produced its effects, and demand was livelier, albeit boosted by promotions on Cayenne. The supply was topped up by several small additional batches of Sweet from various origins, including Ghana, offered at between 2.30 and 2.50 euros/kg depending on availability.
The increase in the overall Victoria supply after Easter, when demand was seeing something of a downturn, forced the operators to be more flexible on prices to remain fluid. The supply was fairly unbalanced, with a high proportion of size 8 fruits. However, the situation improved at the end of the month, thanks in particular to a tropical storm which contributed to greatly reducing the overall supply.
In May, the pineapple market was disrupted by numerous shipping delays, as well as by the succession of public holidays which, depending on the circumstances, contributed to improving or complicating marketing. Hence during the first half-month, shipping delays and public holiday facilitated the absorption of the overflow of fruits due to simultaneous volumes from delayed ships. The supply, at the time unbalanced and unevenly distributed across the European markets, sold more or less well, according to the sizes. Once again, the supermarket sector took in the majority of volumes. The big increase in the Costa Rican supply from mid-May generated a downward trend which continued until the end of the month. The Costa Rican supply, more substantial because of the natural flowering, was much bigger than demand. In a context of flat demand the simultaneous arrivals of ships weighed down heavily on the market, with rates on a downward trend.
Overall, air-freight market activity was somewhat quiet. In the first half-month, the supply was disrupted by Air France strikes. Nonetheless, the market was not under-supplied. The overall Cayenne supply constantly shrank throughout the month. Fruits from Cameroon, the number one in this niche, often exhibited heterogeneous quality, while the Beninese supply seemed less and less interesting to purchasers because of its lack of reliability. Sales were more fluid and steadier on the Sugarloaf market, where once again it was the most coloured fruits from the three main origins (Ghana, Benin and Togo) which sold best. Availability of a supply of green fruits from Benin and Ghana contributed to the widening of the rates bracket, to between 1.80 and 2.30 euros according to the coloration. The top-up supply of Sweet from Cuba, Costa Rica and Ghana sold well on footings of between 2.20 and 2.40 euros/kg.
Throughout May, the Victoria supply was limited. The paucity of volumes from the Indian Ocean helped Ghana make some incursions into this niche, with quantities just as limited. Attracted more by seasonal fruits, demand sometimes struggled to absorb what volumes were on the market.
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