"At the moment the pineapple market is taking a breather. The year 2018 was extremely difficult for the fruit, and 2017 was not that easy either. This was caused by the huge increase in production areas in Costa Rica," says Carlo Dürbeck from Anton Dürbeck GmbH in Bad Homburg. On the one hand this can be explained by the oversupply from better years for the pineapple, before 2017. On the other hand it has to do with the good prices that have been paid in the past by the industry to the producers. "For two years, we have effectively had overproduction and the industry pays extremely low prices - this results in more commodities going to the export."
Europe continues to be a popular market for commodities from Costa Rica, also because the US market is largely controlled by the big American pineapple importers. "So too many goods simply went to Europe - and the price level has dropped to a level where nobody in the supply chain was happy anymore."
Carlo and Mathias Dürbeck at the Convenience-Forum 2018.
Relaxation in recent weeks
"The beginning of the year traditionally is a good time for pineapples in Europe, partly because of lower competition from other (regional) fruits on the supermarket shelves.Also, demand in the colder months tends to be slightly better Therefore, prices are currently at a good level on the spot market. "Many of the German supermarkets are now working with fixed program prices, which is why not all importers can detect price increases for this product," explains Carlo.
Christmas business no longer what it used to be
Traditionally, the pineapple business focused on December: "At the time we imported pineapples from the Ivory Coast, 40% of our annual sales and 60% of our annual revenues happened in December," says Mathias Dürbeck, who is now the fourth generation manager of the company. "Especially in southern and eastern European countries, the fruit was an integral part of Christmas, so producers always made sure to have their goods available around the holidays. But in recent years demand has not always been able to keep up with supply. As stocks tend to drop in week 52 and there are fewer shipments from Costa Rica due to the holidays there, prices are now picking up in January."
Pineapple in the company logo - Pineapple importer for 40 years
As far as the German market is concerned, annual programs with the food retail trade are almost inevitable. At Anton Dürbeck GmbH, a large 
part of the goods goes to permanently planned programs. "Last year, we marketed around 800,000 boxes across Europe - from Spain to Russia," explains Mathias. He also notes another trend in Central and Northern European food retailing: "More and more Rainforest Alliance certificates are demanded, which is difficult to realise, especially for smaller producers. Although we do not yet see this in the same proportions as for Fair Trade bananas, it cannot not be ruled out for the future."
"Overall, we expect the crop to remain stable or increase slightly in the first half of 2019 compared to the previous year. After that, there will be an interesting situation, as many growers will have to decide whether to replant their plantations with pineapples at great expense, switch to another crop or or even sell their land." That could affect the quantities in the second half of the year, according to the expert. To what extent, and whether this will also bring about price changes, is still to be seen.
"We have been marketing pineapples for 40 years now." In the past we took the goods from the Ivory Coast and were also heavily involved in the country's economic development. Karl Dürbeck was appointed Honorary Consul of the Ivory Coast in 1999. "At that time, the company was importing one million boxes of pineapples, a goal our family business is trying to attain again today." The Cayenne Lisse, grown in the Ivory Coast, has been replaced by the Extra Sweet. Then the onset of the civil war there ultimately made trading impossible, which is why we've been importing all our pineapples from Costa Rica for nearly 20 years."
About the Anton Dürbeck Group - Overseas Importer and Producer
A number of subsidiaries are members of the Anton Dürbeck Group: In Holland, it is represented by C. Gottmann BV, a specialist in sub-tropical fruits exclusively marketed under the "Pasion" label. In Chile, the subsidiary Frutasol S.A. specializes in apples. It has a production of over 500,000 boxes per year and also grows walnuts, cherries and kiwi. In addition, more than 2 million colli bananas per year are being marketed by Ecuador from their own plantations exclusively through the labels "Excelban" and "Dolce & Banana". In recent years, the group has also invested in modern cold storage and packing stations in the Netherlands through DK Netherlands BV, in order to strategically promote vertical integration. Mathias Dürbeck is managing the company for the fourth generation. With Carlo and Marco Dürbeck, the next generation is already working in the company.
For more information:
Mathias Dürbeck
Anton Dürbeck GmbH
Hessenring 120
D-61348 Bad Homburg
anton@duerbeck.com
Tel. +49 6172 – 6806 – 0
Fax. +49 6172 – 6806 – 600