Pineapple monthly review: March 2024

In the first half of the month, the supply was still being disrupted by shipping delays and by some logistical concerns (containers undergoing scans), which temporarily limited or delayed the Sweet supply, though without creating a genuine shortage, with demand remaining really moderate. During the second half of the month, with Easter in their sights, operators kept the supply limited because of lower availability from the production stage and the ongoing shipping delays. The European market was at this time primarily being supplied with sizes 8 and 9, with the large-sized fruit supply captured by the high-demand North American market. At the very end of the month, the market tension seemed higher, as some operators, having not received all their fruit, anticipated tougher sales after Easter.

In the first half-month, the air-freight pineapple market was fairly quiet. The ongoing winter holidays and the heavy rains in West Africa encouraged operators to scale back their imports to be better in line with demand, and avoid importing fruit of overly fragile quality. During the second half-month, the market was more dynamic. With the lower rainfall and Easter week, demand was steadier. Unfortunately, fruit quality was not always present. This had a big effect on Cayenne demand, while Sugarloaf demand remained rather high, despite the sometimes heterogeneous quality of the fruit placed on the market. Only sales of Sweet from South America seemed stable, although they only involved very limited volumes.

Throughout the month, the overall Victoria supply remained limited, which enabled those batches available to earn decent value. The announcement at the very end of the month of an increase in the Mauritian supply after Easter was not sufficient to reassure the operators.

pineapple - france - import prices March 2024