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1
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.
2
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.
3
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.
4
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
5
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.