Golden Diamond pineapple's peak season is about to end this year; flower forcing should avoid the fruit production period
May to August each year is the peak season for summer fruits in Taiwan, China, including mangoes, watermelons and other summer fruits that come onto the market one after another. To avoid the pineapple peak season falling within the May to August summer fruit peak season and affecting prices, the Agriculture and Food Agency last year, targeting Golden Diamond pineapple, the pineapple variety with the largest planting area, guided farmers in flower forcing, advancing the peak season to March. Compared with June, which the public has long been accustomed to as still being the peak season for Golden Diamond pineapple, it has in fact now entered its final stage, and varieties such as Milk Pineapple will come onto the market one after another afterward.
The Agriculture and Food Agency estimates that the harvestable area for pineapple this year is 8,385 hectares, a decrease of 1% from 8,455 hectares last year, but the estimated full-year output is 445,611 metric tons, an increase of 3% from 432,922 metric tons last year. The natural flowering period of pineapple is about November to February, and the production period is concentrated in June to August for summer fruit, but the rainy summer leads to a higher ratio of soft-fleshed fruit and poor quality, and also easily causes oversupply, affecting market prices. To maintain farmers' income, the Agriculture and Food Agency last year commissioned various improvement stations to guide farmers in large-scale flower forcing of Golden Diamond pineapple, the most widely planted variety, so that the peak season for Golden Diamond pineapple in the Kaohsiung-Pingtung area ended in early May, and the peak season for Golden Diamond pineapple across Taiwan has now entered its final stage.
According to the Agricultural Products Marketing Information Station, taking the Taipei auction market as an example, last year the largest trading volume of Golden Diamond pineapple was concentrated in May and June, which also made prices very low at that time; this year the trading volume is evenly distributed from March to May, and prices have all been able to maintain a certain level.
Hsu Hui-fei, head of the Crop Production Section of the Agriculture and Food Agency, said that May to August each year is the peak season for summer fruits, and the public's choices are very diverse. Last year, various improvement stations were commissioned to guide farmers in flower forcing of Golden Diamond pineapple, advancing the Kaohsiung-Pingtung pineapple that originally peaked in April by one month to be produced in March. In addition, because of this year's warm winter, the pineapple, which is suited to high-temperature growth, still maintained its quality, and prices also reached a certain level.
According to statistics from the Council of Agriculture, the largest pineapple production across Taiwan is concentrated in Pingtung. Chen Szu-ju, assistant researcher at the Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, said that because pineapple prices were good in May of the year before last, pineapple farmers in Kaohsiung and Pingtung delayed flower forcing, hoping to obtain good returns, but this led to increased output and declining prices in May last year, triggering complaints from farmers. Therefore, various improvement stations guided farmers in various places to adjust according to the suitable production season of each place; for example, the Kaohsiung-Pingtung area adjusted its peak season to March to May, and in early May Kaohsiung-Pingtung pineapple had already entered its final stage.
In addition, this year, because of flower forcing and the warm winter, some pineapple was harvested two months early, and because of low rainfall in winter the quality was also maintained fairly well, with prices remaining at a high level. But Chen Szu-ju worries that not every year will have a warm, dry winter suitable for pineapple growth. She suggests that farmers should not adjust the production period just because prices vary from year to year; for example, the most suitable production period for the Kaohsiung-Pingtung area is March to May.
Hsu Hui-fei said that given this year's production period adjustment, farmers can also obtain stable income. Therefore, the Agriculture and Food Agency will continue to carry out flower forcing operations so that pineapple comes onto the market earlier and avoids the summer fruit production period. As for whether there will still be pineapple to eat in July and August? Hsu Hui-fei said that although this year's Golden Diamond pineapple production period is nearing its end, in August varieties such as Milk Pineapple will still come onto the market one after another.