“Right now, we seem to have an abundance of pineapples,” says Darwin Dodd of Chula Brand, which sources its pineapples out of Mexico. “Supplies are good but the market is way down. Also it seems, with the hurricane affected areas, that they sent their fruit to other markets causing the over- flow.”
Demand staying flat
Traditionally, notes Dodd, that when back to school time hits, demand for pineapple picks up. “It’s been kind of strange,” he says. “Right now, we’re not seeing that. Maybe there are too many pineapples out there so there are too many options.”
Not surprisingly, prices have been affected. Dodd notes that last year around this time, pineapples were $10-$11.25/case. “And right now, they’re fluctuating between $6-$8/case,” he says. “The week of August 21st, prices were in the $11 range. Then the week of August 28th, it came down to about $8 on average and then last week, it was about $7.50.”
Waiting it out
And all Dodd says he can do for now is wait and see. “We just have to wait for the market to clean up and retail to start promoting,” he says. “With all of this extra fruit from Costa Rica and whatever keeps coming in from Mexico, we’re just going to have to watch and see what happens.”
For more information:
Darwin Dodd
Chula Brand
Tel: +1-956-843-1110
darwin.dodd@chulabrand.com