Pineapple growers hit out at Golden Circle for not coming to their aid during crisis

A PROMISING season for Queensland pineapples turned sour in the past month when an oversupply of fruit caused prices to plummet to less than the cost of production.

Season sours: NQ Paradise Pines general manager Rob Richardson. Picture: Evan Morgan

A PROMISING season for Queensland pineapples turned sour in the past month when an oversupply of fruit saw prices plummet to less than cost of production.

And now at least 100 tonnes of pineapples are rotting in paddocks.

Growers who harvested in December for the fresh market were hit with low prices — less than half of what was offered a year earlier — due to their own large volumes as well as additional competition from Golden Circle suppliers.

Farmers have hit out at Golden Circle for not opening their Brisbane cannery in December when pineapple volumes peaked, which would have allowed their growers to offload produce earlier instead of selling to the fresh market.

A near-perfect season across Queensland meant Golden Circle growers had pineapples ready in December, earlier than normal. Golden Circle retained their scheduled opening date this week.

NQ Paradise Pines, Rollingstone, Queensland packs for four growers and sells only to the fresh market. Its general manager Rob Richardson said pineapples were not profitable.

“I was receiving from Sydney $10-12 a (20kg) box and it costs $12 to get it there,” Mr Richardson said. “Twelve months ago we were getting up to a return of $28-30 a box.”

Mr Richardson said Golden Circle was not fully to blame, but their support would have alleviated the situation. Golden Circle did not respond before deadline.