At this time the supply situation has recovered somewhat on the east coast. The southern region is still very bad, but the global situation is helped by supply from the north, which is expected to continue until the end of June.
The size of the fruit is very small, and packers are suffering from this, now packing fewer slices and more pieces.
Some packers are working only every other day.
SAICO plans to shut down on July 1st. Other large packers will review the supply situation at the end of the month, and will probably decide to shut down in the first week of July.
It seems probable that the winter crop will be smaller than last year´s, we should have a clearer picture around August.
In general, the percentage of pineapple supply has diminished 50% compared to this time last season. The price is around 6.00-6.50 Baht/Kg, and is expected to reach 7 Baht or more during the upcoming winter crop. This indicates higher pricing to come.
It´s foreseen that the global supply this year will go down to about 1.8-1.9 million tons, compared to 2.2-2.3 tons in 2012.
There is important information out of Europe, where it seems the grace period for Thai products will end at the end of this year, after which 65% tariffs will be in effect.
With this, it´s expected that the demand for Thai products will be very active during the next 4 months. This should be corroborated.
