Rollercoaster for pineapple supply continues

Pineapples are expected to be in short supply until spring, putting a dent in production the effects of which are expected to be felt through the next two years.

The current shortage of Queensland-grown pineapple supply can be traced back to a weather event that occurred in May 2022.

Unseasonably warm weather combined with double the average monthly rainfall triggered a mass natural flowering event predominantly, but not exclusively, in south-eastern Queensland. In a normal year, annual natural flowering accounts for approximately 10% of a pineapple crop. In 2022, growers reported between 60% and 80% of their crop had flowered.

Central Queensland grower Ben Clifton runs a 161-hectare farm in Bungundarra and said he lost about a quarter of his crop. But he was able to get ahead of February’s glut by alerting his wholesalers in the central markets to the flowering event.

“They’ve been doing a great job raising awareness with consumers and giving us feedback on quality and making sure that we’re doing our job on this side,” he said.

“A lot of things have been done very well to make this a pretty smooth flying affair where the fruit is coming in fresh and going out fresh.”

Government, industry, markets, growers and retailers stepped up during the increased supply window to encourage consumers to support Queensland’s pineapple growers by purchasing pineapples and being understanding during shortages.

In January 2023, Queensland Agriculture Minister, Mark Furner, urged consumers to buy as many as possible and, in February, Brisbane Markets’ A better choice! team took advantage of media opportunities to encourage consumers to get behind growers and ‘pick two for the team’. This coincided with Growcom’s pop-up launch (see article opposite), which helped to further place the spotlight on the issue.

Brisbane Markets wholesaler and pineapple grower, Carter & Spencer Group, said that this year’s natural flowering was the worst the industry had ever experienced.

“It essentially caused nine months of normal supply in a window of four weeks over January and February,” the company’s Business Manager, Matthew Spencer said.

“Unfortunately, most of the fruit that was expected to flood the market through January and February was either too small to harvest or was left behind chasing the more valuable, larger fruit.

“We are now seeing enormous prices for pineapples due to the low volume that is left. This will continue for at least the next four months.”

When a mass flowering event occurs, plants are around six months immature which results in small sized, unsaleable fruit. Mr Spencer said that in the short term, this means low supplies until spring, but the long-term effects will continue through the coming years.

“As an example, there will be a shortage of planting material which will cause growers to miss planting windows through the back end of autumn and winter,” he said.

“This means there will be limited numbers of pineapples planted through this period which would be due to harvest at end of 2024 and into 2025.”