Panama Golden Pineapple II

Panama Golden Pineapple Update with Dax Cooke and Paul Vergara on youtube

Paul Vergara, Project Manager at Panama Golden Pineapple, gives us an update on the pineapple farm with Farmfolio founder Dax Cooke. Lots of good news in this update, and much more to come, so stay tuned!

Overview

by Farmfolio team

GIA Q4 2019 Panama Golden Pineapple Investor Update on youtube.

Karen and I spent a full day with Paul, Edna and the team in Panama in mid-December. We wanted this update to be both educational and detailed enough so you can understand what the Farming team is doing to produce the best product possible. by Farmfolio team.

Pineapple is a dynamic and rapidly evolving sector, and the global market has faced changing conditions and production challenges over the course of the year. 2019 was more favorable for some players than for others, as low prices and inconsistent production levels created concerns across the sector. Nonetheless, value-added processing and rising demand in emerging markets present significant opportunities. In May 2019, it was reported that producers in the US had limited production due and cut back on imports due to low prices. In the EU, demand was also reported to be down. Prices for Central American pineapples on the US market in July were reported to be 9% down on the average for the previous three years. Despite this there are a number of reasons for producers to remain optimistic about the future of the sector and that prices may continue to recover during 2020. Firstly, there are expanding export opportunities, particularly in Asia. Costa Rica has been in talks with China since 2010 over proposals to export pineapples to China and the first shipments have took place in 2019 after overcoming significant challenges in terms of logistics and pest issues. Panama is also about to start exporting pineapples to China and expect to export up to 25 containers per week in 2020, rising to 50 in 2021. China is a key growth market and Chinese pineapple imports have been growing at an average annual rate of approximately 35%. In the long term, the market shows strong opportunities for niche and value added products. Convenience products such as chilled fresh-cut pineapple packed as spears or chunks in sealed plastic bags for retail sale are relatively new products and crownless pineapples are particularly well suited for these uses. Fruit can be processed on-site and transported at low temperatures or shipped whole without the crown to large metropolitan centres and processed just before retail sale. There is also growing demand for products such as organic pineapple juice, which was valued at US$ 3.5 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach US$ 5.6 billion by 2026 growing at a rate of 6.05 % p.a. This is being driven by increased interest in healthy consumption choices by consumers. There is also growing demand for other products such as dried pineapple and pineapple powder for use in food products and as a natural flavour which is expected to grow at a rate of 7.1% p.a. There are growing opportunities presented by the increased rates of consumption in Latin America as well. Brazil is the world’s largest consumer of pineapples, accounting for 11% of global consumption, a trend which is likely to continue growing. Consumption is also growing in countries such as the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. Supply issues have also impacted the market in recent months. Drought has affected production in Mexico with over 3.000 ha impacted. Pineapple prices in Mexico have increased, and it has been reported that a single pineapple fruit can be sold for up to 25 pesos in some places. Supply in Costa Rica, which accounts for 94% of Central American production, is also down due to the El Niño effect leading to unusually hot temperatures. The country currently supplies the US and European markets and the supply of larger pineapples favoured by US consumers have been particularly affected. Despite supply issues and falling consumption for pineapple in some markets, the future for the sector remains bright with demand for niche, value-added products and new export markets driving the market.

A research project at Leibniz University in Hannover, Germany has developed a method of producing paper using leftover pineapple crowns, providing a solution to a widespread problem in the pineapple industry. The Musa Fibra Project’s innovative solution extracts cellulose from the crowns, producing a sustainable paper alternative that requires no chlorine bleaching. Large pineapple plantations can produce hundreds of tons of wasted crowns per week, and the resulting unused biomass can become a haven for a local fly species that harms nearby cattle populations. Farmfolio spoke with project director Niklas Tegtmeier about the origins of the project and its plans for the future. What turned your attention to reutilizing pineapple crowns as a conservation effort? Our project started with extracting the cellulose from green banana peels. After we had developed a method for the peels, we visited our cooperation partner, the research institute Cenibiot, in Costa Rica. We learned that the bananas that are not exported are sold on the local market or reused for other purposes. The pineapple crowns are a much bigger problem on the plantations. Back in Germany we adjusted our extraction process to pineapple cellulose and were quickly able to produce our first paper. This year we travelled to Costa Rica again and got in touch with new cooperation partners like for example pineapple plantations or the agriculture ministry, which were very enthusiastic and supporting about our project. What are the challenges to implementing this project on an industrial scale? Currently we are extracting the cellulose and producing the paper on a laboratory scale. On this scale it works very well. For the scale-up we need the right devices and other equipment, which is of course expensive. We are a student project, so our financial resources are very limited. Therefore the financing is one of our main challenges. In addition, we are currently examining whether our process is patentable. For the scale-up on an industrial scale the patentability must be clarified. How does the paper compare to conventional paper? One of our project leaders wrote her bachelor thesis about the characterization of the pineapple cellulose and compared these fibers with conventional fibers from the birch tree. Our extracted cellulose does not differ from the usual cellulose significantly. With the appropriate equipment it is therefore possible to produce all kinds of paper products from our pineapple cellulose. Our product is even printable without any surface treatment, which is definitely not common in the conventional paper industry. We can use different types of impregnations for different uses, for strength, durability and water resistance. The Musa Fibra Project has found an innovative solution to the pineapple waste problem that could result in a sustainable and profitable industry. If the team find solutions to the patenting and financing questions, it will be able to implement the project on an industrial scale, producing everything from business cards to notebook paper to boxes for transportation. Musa Fibra has found a creative solution to a problem within the pineapple supply chain, and Farmfolio will be keeping a close eye on the project as it moves forward.