As an alternative so pineapple producers do not lose fruit that is not exported, Panama Fruit Company, located in Garicín, Cocle Province, has conquered the European market with the shipment of pineapple juice to Holland.
Only two months after taking the decision of exporting pure fruit juice, the company has sent their first container with about 60,000 litres of the product to Rotterdam, it is being sold to the Dutch market at USD 760 a ton, 0.76 a litre.
Pedro Fabrega, president of the Panama Fruit Company, said that the juice processing plant is the same used for orange juice processing. However, the country has a low production of oranges, so the juice is extracted from this Citrus only to supply the domestic market.
Hence, Fabrega said, since oranges have their strongest season between March and April, and so that the company did not lower their production during the remaining nine months, we opted for the pineapple juice extraction.
He explained that in Panama there are companies that export pineapple juice already processed and packaged, the difference with Panama Fruit is that the process is done with totally modern machinery and the product is shipped in "barrels" and aseptically (ie, when the juice is pasteurized there is no need for refrigeration and lasts for months in that state). When it reaches its destination, in this case Holland, it is cooled, and also has long shelf life.
Each container holds about a thousand litres of juice, and the product is exported in containers of 40 feet.
The American company Fruit Partners is responsible for managing the connection to the European market so that other companies get to know and buy the product.
Fabrega said that the Panamanian company intends to send at least 3,900 tons a year, which would be about 300 tons per month as a projection for the first year. They also hope that by next August these amounts will have been already reached.
Source: Padigital