You all have it that you feel a bit uncomfortable in certain situations. We currently have that (a bit) when buying pineapple. How could you possibly be uncomfortable with that, you're probably wondering? I'll explain.
In any case, it is not the inconvenience in the Netherlands, where you pay 3 euros and then have to wait and see whether you have a ripe and sweet copy. They are almost always ripe and sweet here. No, the inconvenience is in the price, namely that it is so ridiculously low. Last week I almost cheered that they cost less than 20 baht, now sellers are already standing along the road with whole pick-ups full to try to sell them for 5 baht. 5 baht, which is just over 13 cents.
That is very nice, you would say, but if you know the background it becomes uncomfortable. There are simply too many pineapples on the market. Partly because the weather for pineapples was perfect this year, partly because more people have started growing pineapples because the price has been very high in recent years. The market does its job, but as always, the market has no interest in the individual suffering it causes. The sellers are forced to offer cheaper and cheaper in order to at least sell something. Some growers no longer take the trouble and let the pineapples rot on their land.
So when we drive home from Lampang during the 20-minute drive we see about 2 pickups with a high stock of pineapples. We can feel uncomfortable about it, but if we keep driving because of it, it won't help anyone either. So we buy 20 at one of the pickups and pay 20 baht. And in hindsight I think I should have paid XNUMX baht each for it. That was still a pittance. The uncomfortable feeling remains.
The story of the pineapples feels extra bitter after I went to get some pills at the pharmacy. I had to pay 60 baht, about € 1,60. Unfortunately, the leaflet was entirely in Thai. I looked up the medicine on the internet to see if there was an English leaflet, and that turned out to be the case. A webshop that offers the pills for the European market had the leaflet online. Price for those pills: €9,90. There is a lot of grumbling about the cost of health care.
It is clear that the excellent Dutch insurance system has the side effect that the prices for medicines are (too) high. Consumers have no idea what they cost and no interest in looking for cheaper solutions, at least, no immediately visible interest. And it is bittersweet that the price difference between the pills here and in NL does not benefit the people who do the work, but the smart ones who start an online shop. I realize that the pineapples are no different. The low purchase price is an extra advantage for the Dutch supermarkets. The farmers' loss here is Albert Heijn's gain.
Thai pineapples are not sold in NL! Thailand hardly exports pineapples.
Unlike fruits such as apples, pears, grapes, kiwis and bananas, a pineapple does not ripen after being picked. In order for a picked pineapple to not rot in the Netherlands, it must be picked 6 weeks before it is ripe. The Thai do not (yet) control that process.
This is also the reason that pineapples in NL taste so bad compared to pineapples here, or in any country where they grow. In NL they claim that a pineapple is ripe if you can pull the leaves out. We grow pineapple ourselves, and if we can, we throw the pineapple away, because then it is rotten.
Arjen.
Nice, such an addition from an expert. Thank you, Arjen.
The inspiration for my writing apparently came from the wrong fruit. You may also enter other countries and/or other products for the purpose of the story.
It's the area I'm in, and the fact is that the pineapples are sweeter than elsewhere, especially Phuket.
That's also the reason Dole canned them here and puts a lot of people into work for that reason, that's for sure.
Incidentally, I read that Dole is part of Pepsico again, it can be.
So the large multinational benefits, unlike AH
Thailand is the world's largest exporter of canned pineapples. Mostly from the Prachuap Kirikan region. A nice fact if you grow pineapples.
Well spotted, François. I too regularly feel uncomfortable with some absurdly low prices that actually make the harvest not worth it. It is partly caused by copying behavior: ohhh, the price is good, I'm going to renovate that too. The result is an oversupply. See also rubber and cassava prices………..
This is indeed a direct result of Thai copying behaviour. If 1 shop in the street is successful with selling fruit shakes, three baskets later there will be 4 shops selling it there. As a result, first the quality, and then the prices go down, resulting in closed shops. It was exactly the same with rice and rubber cultivation.
Anyway, the Ministry of Agriculture is far too busy with anything other than to interfere with what Thai farmers grow…..
Thailand is a very large exporter of pineapples, but only canned.
I have read that Thailand is even one of the largest pineapple exporters worldwide.
Still, I can remember that Hawaii in particular used to be the top exporter about 55 years ago, but that was back in the day, yes.
It becomes even more bitter when an elephant from the wild forces a pick-up loaded with pineapples to stop and the trunk for more than 100 kg. eats up. This happened a few times!
Background of this story.
There is less and less food in the habitat of the elephants and when a car with "food" comes along, it will try to grab it.
Bought a pineapple for 10 Bt last Friday, it had a bad taste overall, Is also too big to eat the whole as a single person, Was already rotten the next day. I assume it was harvested too long ago
For 10 baht you can't really go wrong….
Incidentally, if we have too much fruit of one or the other, we are always happy to share it with the neighbours. I think one of the nice things about Thailand is that people always share everything, so we often get unexpectedly delicious things back!
Is your son a pineapple tester?
now 14 days back here in the isaan nongkhai
10 kg pineapple 200 bath .
small size delicious sweet many stalls
and pickups that sold it on the roadside here.
In itself, of course, it's sad for the pineapple farmers (growers), but it is also partly their own fault, they can never see further when their nose is long. If one starts with pineapple, within a year the entire village will have pineapple and that's how it is in Thailand with everything. Just look at the rubber trees, they produced gold for a while, but now there are so many rubber trees that it is hardly or not worth tapping the rubber.
Just look in the China Town, once a shop started with shoes and in no time the whole street sells shoes. 10 years ago we built 24 apartments here in a place where everyone said :: There won't be a dog in that back country !! If you now draw a circle around our 500-meter apartments, there are also 500 apartments, so :: half of them are empty.
In the Netherlands, farmers have been complaining for years that they have to supply the milk at the cost price, did you also buy the milk from a farmer there and pay 1 euro for 1 liter because you felt sorry for him while it is in the store for 50 euro cents? ?
No, the difference in living standards makes that a pretty nonsensical comparison.
Mexico plus a few other countries in Central America are currently the largest producers and exporters of "fresh" pineapple. They have a huge sales market in the US. The transport, because that is the problem with pineapples, is much shorter than for example to Europe. Pineapple does not ripen after but, once picked, it just turns rotten after a few days. The transport of "fresh" pineapple to Europe is therefore not possible by ship, but must be by plane, which is a very expensive means of transport.
On the other hand, there is more demand for canned pineapple in Europe. Thailand is one of the largest exporters of canned pineapple. The overloaded pickups, which are often seen along the highways, are not on their way to the market, but to the factories where the pineapple is canned. The best quality pineapple therefore goes here and there they will receive a predetermined price for their goods. The prices, of course, depend on the rule: supply and demand.
When I hear the word pineapple I always think of the joke my father once told me 10 years ago.
A German farmer is looking for his employee Peter and asks his son:
Farmer: Wo ist der Peter?
son: there might sudfruite
Farmer: What?
son: There might be Anna nass
Here in the deep south (prov. Narathiwat) they are much more expensive. For 1 pineapple you pay at least 30 baht. I don't understand how it is possible that the prices elsewhere are so low. It must be a combination of climate and safety. Whoops, last week another two fruit traders riddled with bullets and one decapitated. Near my house. That probably won't help the price.
In our neighborhood it is now the water melons.
Just had a saleswoman here and bought a few
for 10 baht each and they are deliciously sweet .
Do we also have that feeling in the Netherlands, when we buy a subsidized pepper or pointed cabbage?
Without an EU subsidy, vegetables in the Netherlands would probably be so expensive and only accessible to the happy few
No, I certainly don't have that feeling in the Netherlands, and precisely for the reason you mention (and which Henk overlooks in his comment above). In the Netherlands, we ultimately pay more for bell peppers and pointed cabbage than we think, because that subsidy has to come from somewhere. We call that tax.
When we go from Phuket to Hat Yai, we buy as many pineapples as can fit in the trunk.
There are many stalls along the highway in Thalang.
We then give them to family and friends.
Phuket's pineapple tastes better than the ones from Phattalung and Songkhla.