# Where do pineapples come from?

Source: Commodity Origins, https://commodityorigins.com/commodities/pineapples/ — data JSON: https://commodityorigins.com/data/commodities/pineapples.json — license CC BY 4.0 (upstream data keeps its license; see Sources below).

Pineapples come mainly from Costa Rica, which produced 3.1 million tonnes in 2024, 11% of the world's 29.3 million tonnes (FAOSTAT). Philippines (10%), Indonesia (9.4%) and Brazil (7.6%) follow; the top five together supply 45%. The biggest exporter of pineapples (HS 080430) is Costa Rica (59% of world export value in 2024, CEPII BACI). Pineapple needs a warm, frost-free climate with moderate rainfall and free-draining soil, and because the plant is small, uniform and harvested on a schedule rather than a season, it suits plantation agriculture close to a port better than almost any other tropical fruit.

*A bromeliad fruit grown on an eighteen-month cycle and shipped fresh or canned.* Also called: pineapple, ananas, MD-2.

## Where do pineapples come from?

| Rank | Country | Production 2024 (tonnes) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Costa Rica | 3.1 million | 11% |
| 2 | Philippines | 2.9 million | 10% |
| 3 | Indonesia | 2.7 million | 9.4% |
| 4 | Brazil | 2.2 million | 7.6% |
| 5 | China | 2.1 million | 7.3% |
| 6 | India | 1.7 million | 5.9% |
| 7 | Nigeria | 1.6 million | 5.5% |
| 8 | Mexico | 1.3 million | 4.4% |
| 9 | Thailand | 1.1 million | 3.7% |
| 10 | Colombia | 910,265 | 3.1% |
| | Rest of world | 0 | 32% |
| | World | 29.3 million | 100% |

Source: FAOSTAT Crops and livestock products (QCL), 2024.

In 2024 Costa Rica produced 3.1 million tonnes, 11% of the world's 29.3 million tonnes (FAOSTAT). Philippines followed with 10%, then Indonesia (9.4%), Brazil (7.6%) and China (7.3%). The top five account for 45%, 85 countries reported output and 32% came from outside the top ten. World production changed +16% over the ten years to 2024 and -2% on the previous year.

Costa Rica's position in the export trade is out of all proportion to its share of world production, and that is the crop's defining feature. A single variety, MD-2, developed for sweetness, low acidity and golden flesh that survives shipping, transformed the trade from the 1990s and is now grown on large, intensively managed plantations near Caribbean ports.

Elsewhere pineapple is often a smallholder crop grown for local markets and canning rather than for fresh export. Philippines and Thailand production feeds large canning industries; Indian, Brazilian and Nigerian output is consumed domestically. The plant itself is a bromeliad grown from vegetative slips rather than seed, so a plantation is genetically uniform and can be scheduled precisely.

## Who exports and imports pineapples?

### Exporters of pineapples, fresh or dried (HS 080430), 2024

| Rank | Country | Value (US$) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Costa Rica | $1.7 billion | 59% |
| 2 | Philippines | $430.4 million | 15% |
| 3 | Netherlands | $105.3 million | 3.7% |
| 4 | Ecuador | $76.2 million | 2.7% |
| 5 | Spain | $55.3 million | 2% |
| 6 | United States | $49.6 million | 1.8% |
| 7 | Honduras | $41.9 million | 1.5% |
| 8 | Kenya | $35.1 million | 1.3% |
| 9 | Mexico | $31.8 million | 1.1% |
| 10 | Germany | $28.2 million | 1% |
| 11 | Other Asia, nes | $27.1 million | 1% |
| 12 | China | $26 million | 0.9% |
| 13 | Italy | $25.4 million | 0.9% |
| 14 | Guatemala | $22.8 million | 0.8% |
| 15 | Belgium | $20.4 million | 0.7% |

### Importers of pineapples, fresh or dried (HS 080430), 2024

| Rank | Country | Value (US$) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | $888.4 million | 32% |
| 2 | China | $198.7 million | 7.1% |
| 3 | Netherlands | $165.5 million | 5.9% |
| 4 | Belgium | $143.1 million | 5.1% |
| 5 | France | $139.8 million | 5% |
| 6 | Spain | $139.7 million | 5% |
| 7 | Japan | $129.2 million | 4.6% |
| 8 | Italy | $124.6 million | 4.4% |
| 9 | South Korea | $85.4 million | 3% |
| 10 | United Kingdom | $82.3 million | 2.9% |
| 11 | Canada | $78.1 million | 2.8% |
| 12 | Germany | $62.8 million | 2.2% |
| 13 | Portugal | $58.9 million | 2.1% |
| 14 | Russia | $46.3 million | 1.6% |
| 15 | United Arab Emirates | $33.1 million | 1.2% |

Source: CEPII BACI international trade database (HS22, V202601).

Costa Rica was the largest exporter of pineapples (HS 080430) in 2024 with 59% of world export value, ahead of Philippines (15%), on world trade of $2.8 billion (CEPII BACI). United States was the largest importer with 32%.

The export table is one of the most concentrated in fresh produce, and it reflects industrial organization rather than climate. A handful of companies operate plantations, packhouses and shipping in Costa Rica and neighboring countries, and they supply North America and Europe year-round because pineapple can be induced to flower chemically and therefore harvested continuously.

Canned pineapple and juice are a separate trade with a different map, centred on the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, and it moves as a shelf-stable product rather than as fresh fruit.

## What do pineapples cost?

### How they are priced

There is no futures market and no free public benchmark price for this crop, so this site quotes none. Fresh pineapple is sold by size count per box and grade, negotiated between exporters and retailers, often on annual or seasonal programmes rather than spot, because supply is scheduled rather than seasonal. Canned pineapple and juice concentrate price separately as industrial goods.

That contract structure is unusual for a fruit and follows from the crop's controllability: because flowering can be induced with ethylene and harvest timed to the week, a grower can commit to a delivery programme a year ahead in a way an orchard grower cannot.

## What moves the price of pineapples?

### Freight and fuel costs

Pineapple is heavy, low-value per tonne and shipped refrigerated over long distances, so ocean freight and bunker prices are a large share of delivered cost. Container rate spikes compress grower margins directly.

### Variety and consumer preference

The shift to MD-2 reshaped the trade within a decade, and any successor variety would do the same. Because plantations are replanted on a two to three year cycle, the industry can switch varieties faster than a tree crop can.

### Plantation input costs

Intensive pineapple growing uses substantial fertilizer, plastic mulch and crop protection. Fertilizer price spikes, of the kind covered on the urea page, feed straight into production cost on a crop grown this intensively.

### Land and water regulation

Expansion of pineapple plantations has drawn scrutiny over water use, agrochemical runoff and land conversion in Costa Rica and west Africa, and buyer certification requirements now shape where new planting is possible.

### Canning demand

A large share of world pineapple goes to canneries, and canned fruit competes with fresh for the same crop. When canned demand is weak, fruit is pushed into the fresh market and prices fall.

## How are pineapples produced?

Pineapple is grown from vegetative planting material, slips and suckers taken from harvested plants, so a field is a clone. Planting is dense, often through plastic mulch, and the crop takes roughly fourteen to twenty months to first harvest. Flowering can be induced chemically with ethylene, which lets growers schedule harvest precisely and supply markets year-round rather than seasonally.

Each plant produces one fruit, and a ratoon crop from suckers may follow before the field is replanted. Fruit is cut by hand, moved on field conveyors, then washed, graded, waxed and packed by count. It is shipped at controlled temperature, and unlike many fruits it does not ripen further after picking, so it must be harvested at eating maturity, which is why picking judgement matters so much.

Cannery fruit follows a different route: harvested riper, trimmed, cored, sliced or crushed, then canned in juice or syrup and heat-processed, or pressed and concentrated for juice.

## What are pineapples used for?

Fresh eating takes the premium end of the market and canned fruit the volume. Canned slices, chunks and crushed pineapple are a long-established grocery staple, and pineapple juice, usually from concentrate, is a large beverage category and a common component of blended juices.

By-products are significant. Cannery waste, shells and cores, is used for animal feed, for bromelain extraction and for vinegar and alcohol. Bromelain, a protein-digesting enzyme, is used as a meat tenderiser and in pharmaceutical and food processing. Pineapple leaf fiber is used for textiles in the Philippines and has attracted interest as a leather alternative.

## Supply chain and chokepoints

The fresh chain is an industrial one: plantation, packhouse, refrigerated container, destination distribution centre, and it runs on scheduled weekly volumes rather than spot trading. Because harvest can be timed, the chain is less prone to gluts than most fruit, but it is heavily exposed to shipping.

The canning chain is located at the fruit, not the market, since canned product ships as ambient cargo, which is why the Philippines and Thailand can serve world markets from a distance that would make fresh export uneconomic.

The structural risks are variety monoculture, freight cost and environmental regulation. A disease that attacked MD-2 would affect most of the world's fresh export trade at once, in the same way that has historically threatened bananas.

## Timeline

- 1903: Commercial canning begins in Hawaii. Canning made pineapple shelf-stable and created a mass market, establishing the industrial plantation model that the crop still follows. (https://www.fao.org/markets-and-trade/commodities-overview/en)
- 1970s: Production shifts to Southeast Asia. Lower costs moved the canning industry from Hawaii to the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, which still dominate canned and juice supply. (https://www.fao.org/markets-and-trade/commodities-overview/en)
- 1996: MD-2 is released commercially. A sweeter, lower-acid variety with better shelf life transformed the fresh trade within a decade and made Costa Rica the dominant exporter. (https://www.fao.org/markets-and-trade/commodities-overview/en)
- 2010: Environmental scrutiny of plantations increases. Concerns over agrochemical use, water quality and land conversion in Costa Rica led buyers to require certification, raising costs and constraining expansion. (https://www.fao.org/markets-and-trade/commodities-overview/en)
- 2021: Container freight costs squeeze exporters. Shipping rate spikes hit a heavy, low-value cargo particularly hard, compressing grower margins and briefly reducing volumes shipped to distant markets. (https://www.fao.org/markets-and-trade/commodities-overview/en)

## Frequently asked questions

### which country produces the most pineapples

Costa Rica produced 3.1 million tonnes in 2024, 11% of the world's 29.3 million tonnes (FAOSTAT). Philippines was second with 10%. The export trade is far more concentrated than production.

### why does Costa Rica dominate pineapple exports

Because it combined the MD-2 variety with large, intensively managed plantations near Caribbean ports and the ability to schedule harvest year-round by inducing flowering chemically. That lets exporters commit to weekly delivery programmes that a seasonal orchard crop cannot match.

### do pineapples ripen after picking

No. Unlike bananas or avocados, pineapple does not sweeten further once cut, so it must be harvested at eating maturity. That makes picking judgement critical and is why fruit shipped long distances is graded so carefully.

### what is MD-2 pineapple

A variety released commercially in 1996, bred for sweetness, low acidity, golden flesh and shelf life. It displaced older varieties in the fresh export trade within about a decade and now dominates it, which concentrates disease risk in a single genotype.

### what happens to pineapple waste

Shells and cores from canneries are used for animal feed, vinegar and alcohol, and as a source of bromelain, a protein-digesting enzyme used as a meat tenderiser and in food and pharmaceutical processing. Leaf fiber is used for textiles in the Philippines.

## Sources

- FAOSTAT Crops and livestock products (QCL), 2024. License: CC BY 4.0 (FAO Statistical Database Terms of Use). https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QCL
- CEPII BACI international trade database (HS22, V202601), BACI HS22 V202601, fetched 6 September 2026. License: Etalab Open Licence 2.0. https://www.cepii.fr/CEPII/en/bdd_modele/bdd_modele_item.asp?id=37

Text last reviewed 2026-09-05. Cite as: Commodity Origins, "Where do pineapples come from?", https://commodityorigins.com/commodities/pineapples/.