Costa Rica: Heavy rainfall affects pineapple shipments

Rainfall and low temperatures in the north and the Caribbean are slowing down the pace of the pineapple harvest in Costa Rica.

"Due to the cold, it takes much longer for the fruit to reach the desired Brix level, consequently slowing down the normal flow of shipments," pointed out Alexander Mulder, representative of the Dutch importer Frankort & Koning.

This drop in shipments has caused a significant increase in prices in the European market. According to Alexander, the wholesale price per 11 kilo box has risen to 13 Euro for the larger calibres, and to 11/12 Euro for smaller sizes, which is an increase of between 50% and 60%.

Christian Herrera, president of the CANAPEP, told FreshPlaza that registering plenty of rainfall is normal for this time of year, although over the past two years, as a result of the weather phenomenon known as La Niña, rains had not been as abundant, so production did not suffer fluctuations.

"We cannot yet say to what extent the harvest has been reduced, but the effects have been quite noticeable. In any case, the weather is showing signs of going back to normal, and we expect good weather this week, so production should return to normal levels too," stated Christian Herrera.