Costa Rica exports less pineapples in price control bid
The volumes shipped to the US during this period were lower than usual with freight on board prices running at $9-10 per 27 pound box - considerably more than would usually be the case for the period when the price usually drops to $7-8 per box.
Oppenheimer tropical category director Steve Woodyear-Smith, said this was all part of strategic moves aimed at maintaining prices.
"It seems they didn’t plant so much to miss the natural floration period where you get significantly more fruit. The peak was not as high as in previous seasons."
He said that Costa Rica was his main supplier, but during these months he was importing from Ecuador and Panama.
Kingston & Associates Marketing international procurement director Mark Anderson agreed that volumes were lower.
"May and June aren’t good months for producers to sell pineapples so they tried to decrease volumes which has produced a slighter better market for them than previous years."
He said that he expected volumes to increase at the end of July, but not to recover fully until around September.
Source: freshfruitportal.com
