Pineapple supply tight from Costa Rica

A slim pineapple market is causing a slight shift in who gets the sweet fruit from where in the U.S. “Right now, pineapples are tight especially coming out of Costa Rica,” says Darwin Dodd of McAllen, Tx.-based Sunrise Produce LLC (Chula Brand), a company that also ships pineapples from Mexico. “So markets that usually don’t take Mexican pineapples are starting to. Usually Chicago, the Northeast, even Florida, you usually can’t sell pineapples that way because they come in offshore on that side. But since Costa Rica is tight, they are pulling in that direction.”

Meeting that market is a healthy demand for pineapples. “Demand picks up around this time of year, although the last few years have been kind of off so you can’t go by that anymore,” says Dodd. “But what’s helping the movement is that there’s less volume coming in. So there’s more demand because they’re just harder to find.” Dodd adds that supply is heavier on the larger sizes—so more 5 and 6-count pineapples, a good amount of 7s but a tight supply of 8s.

Slight spike in pricing
Meanwhile, pricing has increased slightly. “We’re doing $11 on 5 count, 6s and 7s at $12 and 8s at $10-$11, depending on how many we have,” says Dodd. “It went up a little bit from last week, maybe about $1. And I think right now it’s going to be holding for at least a week or two if not a bit more.” For now, Dodd anticipates that that price will likely hold for the next few weeks. “As long as Costa Rica doesn’t suddenly have a big amount coming in, the market should stay tight and fairly decent,” he says.

For more information:
Darwin Dodd
Sunrise Produce, LLC
Tel: 956-843-1110
darwin.dodd@chulabrand.com
http://www.chulabrand.com