Pineapples remain in short supply across stores and restaurants in Hawaii, with distributors reporting months of limited availability and smaller fruit sizes. Growers, however, expect conditions to improve as the next harvest approaches.
D. Otani Produce, which supplies pineapples to restaurants, hotels, and small retailers across Oahu, said deliveries from growers have been well below normal levels. "Normally we go through 18 to 20 pallets a week, now we're down to maybe five, six pallets, if that," said produce buyer Kimo Muraki. "This would normally be full, daily."
Retailers are facing similar challenges. "So we can't ship pineapples if we don't have them," said Kristin Bisarra, manager of The Pineapple Store on Kauai. "Costco has a pallet of it, but now they're limiting people to only taking two because there's, there's pineapple wars at Costco."
Distributors added that the fruit reaching the market is smaller than in previous years. "With pineapple being short at it is and being harvested early, the larger sizes are very limited," Muraki said.
According to Dole Food Company, reduced volumes are tied to the previous winter's cold spells, which affected fruiting cycles. "The short version is we are in the low volume time of year that results fall from last winter's cold spells," said Dole Food Company Hawaii general manager Dan Nellis. "The cold spells trigger the natural differentiation of fruit. This means the pineapple plant reacts to the stress from the cold conditions and switches from vegetative growth to reproductive growth (inflorescence). The plant produces a fruit well ahead of our schedule fruit production."
Nellis explained that early fruiting during winter led to higher volumes in June and July but left fewer pineapples available for harvest in September through November. "The severity and frequency of cold spells in January, February, and sometimes March will determine the NDF effect on volumes in the fall. Last winter was worse than usual," he said.
John White, CEO of Hawaii Farm Project, which oversees Maui Gold Pineapple Company, said the situation was similar across production areas. "Both of us have the same growing cycle of 18 months. So, any short term fluctuations, there's not much that either one of us can do in that short timeframe," White said.
He added that new volumes are expected soon. "Christmas is right around the corner, and our Christmas crop will be starting to be available middle of November," White said.
For some retailers, the shortage has already altered business. "The funny thing is, the owner of The Pineapple Store," Bisarra said, "he goes, 'I think we're going to have to change the name to The Banana Store!'"
Source: Khon2
