Pineapple monthly review: March 2023

During March, the pineapple supply continued to be disrupted by shipping delays, while the Costa Rican supply was still limited. The poor weather was impeding the Brix accumulation in the fruit, forcing growers to defer the harvest point. The market was stable thanks in particular to the supermarket sector, which continued to capture nearly all the available supply. During the second half, with Easter in sight, we might have expected a surge in rates on the spot market, especially with the start of the Costa Rican melon export campaign slightly further squeezing container availability for pineapple exports.  This did not prove to be the case, even though the pineapple market was somewhat under-supplied. Sales were fluid and rates strong, although there were no speculative sales.

The air-freight market had a fairly slow March. In the first half, demand and sales remained fairly quiet, with the winter holidays coming to an end in the last regions concerned. The lack of demand momentum gave the operators no incentive to increase their imports. In the second half, demand was just as lacklustre. A few days before Easter, the market was still idling. Cayenne sales above all involved the Cameroonian supply, which had higher availability in the absence of fruit of more homogeneous quality from Benin. The Sugarloaf market saw a few days of tension at the end of the month, with the DGCCRF (Anti-Fraud Directorate) taking several random samples from batches out of Benin and Ghana. Demand for Sweet remained stable, though sales only involved some limited volumes.

The overall Victoria supply in March remained very small, especially from Reunion, which enabled the available batches to sell at high rates.

pineapple - france - import price March 2023