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Pineapple Farm Prices Decreased
40%
Two years ago the grower price
for gold pineapples was at us$
0.42 per kg. Today it has
supposedly decreased to us$0.25
per kg. The pineapple sector
fears that the situation will
deteriorate between May and
June.
The 40% variation in the average
price doesn’t satisfy growers,
who claim they have not received
the prices they expected between
January and April.
As grower prices dropped to a
low point in November last year,
with us$0.15 per kg, growers
still haven’t quite recovered
their market. Crisis would
perhaps describe the situation
rather more accurate, as prices
never returned to their previous
level above us$0.40. When the
market follows its traditional
pattern and lowers during May
and July, many growers will end
up in trouble this year.
According to Abel Chaves of the
National Chamber of Pineapple
Growers and Exporters, the lower
prices affect small growers
sooner then intermediate ones.
Chaves mentioned tracking
pineapple prices in Europe
during weeks 10 to 14 at
FreshPlaza.com indicates that
Gold increased from € 8.35 to €
10.88 in size 7. Since then the
price on that size has moved up
to € 13 and leaped back to €
10.30.
However, the National Market
Information Service puts the
average grower price in 2004 at
us$0.369 per kg, while in 2005
this has been reduced to
us$0.363.
This figure does not qualify for
dubbing the situation as a
crisis, according to FreshPlaza.
But as the production acreage
has increased from 9900 ha in
2000 to 27K ha today, according
to the Agricultural Planning
Executive Secretariat SEPSA,
this may point in the direction
of a future crisis, if this
trend continues.
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