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A STUDY OF THE SUPPLY AND DEMAND OF

PINEAPPLES IN THE DELHI MARKETS

Surabhi Rai and R.K.Pal

Division of Post Harvest Technology,

Indian Agricultural Research Institute,

New Delhi.

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Pineapple is a popular fruit with an attractive flavour and

refreshing sugar acid balance. It is rich in minerals and

has appreciable amounts of vitamin C, polyphenols and

dietary fibers. The fruit is ideal for processing too as

its flavour is preferred by most people. Being a

subtropical fruit there is also ample scope for export to

temperate countries however the quality leaves much to be

desired. In India it can grow in diverse climatic

conditions; but it is mainly cultivated in North East, West

Bengal, Karnataka and Kerala. Thus the pineapples undergo

long distance transportation to reach the market in Delhi.

Analysis of three years data (2001 to 2004) of supply of

pineapples to Azadpur Mandi in New Delhi reveals that the

peak supplies are in the months from April to August, and

then it slackens down from September and picks up again

from January as depicted in figure1 and table 1.

SUPPLY OF PINEAPPLES TO DELHI MARKET

0500

100015002000250030003500400045005000

MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB

MONTHS

QUANTIT

Y

2001 to 2002

2002 to 2003

2003 to 2004

Fig 1: Supply of pineapples to Delhi market.

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The supply of pineapples has also increased from 30,577.1

MT in 2001-2002 to 37,837.3 in 2003-2004 as shown in figure

2. From July to February, the fruits are supplied from the

north-east, of which 90% is procured from Siliguri in West

Bengal. Sirsi in Karnataka is the main supplier from

January to June.

MONTH 2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004

MAR 2700.7 3160.3 3321.5

APR 3244.1 3194 4175.9

MAY 2987.2 2792.8 4001.4

JUN 3207.5 4509 4092.1

JUL 3417.2 2863.6 3654.9

AUG 3956.9 2446.9 3529.8

SEP 2977.4 3494.3 3717.9

OCT 2256.8 2453.7 2849.2

NOV 1206.5 1273 1671.7

DEC 815.3 1270.8 1576.7

JAN 1894.2 1780.7 2072.9

FEB 1913.3 2813.5 3173.3

TOTAL 30,577.1 32,052.6 37,837.3

Table 1:Month wise arrival of pineapple in Delhi market.

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ANNUAL SUPPLY OF PINEAPPLE TO DELHI MARKET FOR THREE YEARS

32052.6

37837.3

30577.1

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

2001 to 2002 2002 to 2003 2003 to 2004

YEARS

QU

AN

TITY

(MT)

Fig 2. Annual supply of pineapple to Delhi market from 2001

to 2004.

As per the data obtained from SAFAL, Mongolpuri Industrial

Area, New Delhi the daily demand for pineapples in its 300

retail outlets in Delhi is to the tune of 150 to 300

kg/day, which may go up to 350-400 kg/day during summers.

The demand for pineapple fruits is due to the difficulty

encountered in peeling the fruit, customer preference for

other fruits and often-poor quality on reaching the market

in Delhi. The demand in the open market is more, however

the demand is more from juice vendors and is low at the

individual level. Thus the demand for pineapple as a fresh

fruit is very limited in the Delhi market.

There are no instances of post harvest treatments at the

farm or packing shed level. There is absolutely no use of

packaging material and the fruits are simply packed into

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the trucks. This results in much damage during

transportation. According to a survey conducted by Deka et

al 2004 of some districts in Assam, the post harvest losses

in pineapple are to the tune of 9.25% of which 1.95%

amounts to transportation loss. In Azadpur Mandi, each

truckload of pineapples on arrival has approximately 7000

pieces of which as much as 65% is physically damaged or of

low grade. These fruits are diverted to processing

industries. Moreover the peak pineapple harvests in North

East and West Bengal coincide with the monsoons. Coupled

with the long transit time and physical injuries during

transportation there is ample damage due to bacterial and

fungal infection.

It is seen that the transportation losses increases with

the distance with about 2% in the district level to as much

as 65% in long distance transport. Thus there is urgent

need to address the issue of transportation losses and

devise economical ways and means to reduce it. Moreover it

is seen that the demand in the Delhi market is more for

juice than the fresh fruit itself, thus it would be more

profitable to process the fruits in the growing region and

market them than to market the fresh fruits. This would

prevent wastage and glut in the market, ensure better

quality of raw material for processing and increase the

income of growers.

REFERENCES

1. Deka B.C, Sharma S, Patgiri P, Saikia A and Hazarika C.

(2004) Post harvest practices and loss assessment of some

commercial horticultural crops of Assam. Ind Fd Packer,

Jan-Feb;85-87.