In May of this year, Xuwen MuchSweet Produce Cooperatives, which mainly deals in Xuwen pineapples, will bring several pineapple varieties to Italy to participate in the MacFrut Expo held on May 3-5 to explore the possibility of Xuwen pineapples developing the European market.
According to Mr. Chen Ruyue, from the company, this time he will bring four dominant varieties of Jinzuan pineapples, mango pineapples, watermelon pineapples, and snack pineapples to the exhibition. "These are the pineapple varieties that currently have an advantage in taste and sweetness. Let's see if we can find interested local importers."
Left: Mango Pineapple; Right: Watermelon Pineapple
"Compared with the traditional pineapples on the European market, Xuwen pineapples have the advantage of high sweetness, which can reach Brix 23-25, and the flesh is tender, and delicate. It is understood that most of the pineapples in the European market are imported from South America, and they are picked and transported when the Brix reaches about 15. However, post-ripening pineapples have a limited effect on increasing the sugar content. Therefore, in terms of sugar content and taste, naturally ripe Xuwen pineapple is more competitive."
Snack Pineapple
On the other hand, Chen also said that the high Brix of pineapples relies highly on the duration of transportation. "We are currently sending our fruit to export markets in neighbouring, such as Central Asia and Russia, because the transportation time is relatively short. Due to the long distance to Europe, sea transportation is a big challenge for the freshness and quality of pineapples. Air freight can guarantee quality, but the frequency of international flights has not yet fully recovered, and the high cost of air freight will weaken the competitiveness of pineapples.
"Therefore, at this exhibition, we hope to explore the potential of Xuwen pineapples in the European market, and whether there are importers interested in sweet pineapples, and we will work together to solve the problem of transportation times."
In addition, he mentioned that among the four exhibited varieties, mango pineapples are relatively durable due to their high fiber content, and can be stored for 20 days under refrigerated conditions.
"We learned that many fruit companies in the world have set up ripening centers in the consumer market area to increase the ripeness and sweetness of fruits by means of ripening. However, such facilities are mainly for mangoes, bananas and other categories, and there is no such practice in pineapples. Therefore, the natural high sweetness and tender taste of Xuwen pineapples still have a certain competitive advantage."
Macfrut, Booth at the China Pavilion: Hall D1 D027, D067