Pineapple monthly review: April 2019

In April, the pineapple market was on a rather positive trend, thanks in particular to the Easter holidays. However, the Costa Rican supply suffered serious quality problems (vitrescence) which, according to the operators, were due to high temperatures and the absence of rain. Unlike in previous years, there was no influx of volumes for Easter onto the European market, which facilitated marketing, as did shipping delays. Once again the supermarket sector played a key role in absorbing the volumes available, and there were very few spot sales. After Easter, the market was distinctly less lively, with demand seeing a big drop. Fortunately, the Orthodox Easter, which followed the Christian Easter, helped operators sell a large part of the fruit still available on the East European markets (especially Russia).

The air-freight pineapple market had a fairly problematic April. During the first half-month, against all expectations, demand was quiet in the run-up to Easter. So operators struggled to sell off their volumes, and even sold certain Cayenne batches at PSPs to avoid having to manage stocks in Easter week. It is true that with the spring school holidays, many public institutions (OOH sector) were closed. In the run-up to Easter, the Sweet supply from all origins (especially the Dominican Republic, Panama, Costa Rica) saw a big increase. With the post-Easter fall in demand, the Sweet market was tight, since operators were struggling to sell the fruit still in their possession. Only Sugarloaf sales saw some fluidity, with purchaser interest in the most coloured fruits remaining high. 

In the first half-month, sales were complicated on the Victoria market. Demand was not strong enough to absorb the Easter promotion fruit. After Easter, the market was distinctly quieter, with a slump not only in demand but also rates. The supplies from Mauritius and Ghana, competing with Reunion, were too irregular in terms of coloration to earn good value.

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