The pineapple in Costa Rica. Producer country file[L'ananas au Costa Rica. Fiche pays producteur]

Thanks to the success of the MD-2 variety (or Extra-Sweet), Costa Rica has become in the space of less than twenty years the world's number one fresh pineapple produce and exporter, toppling all the competition. Despite high production costs, the Costa Rican sector has been able to take advantage of the country's political stability, excellent pedoclimatic conditions, its high competitiveness (high technical level, economies of scale) and a favourable exchange rate for the colon against the euro or dollar. However, a proliferation in producers and increasingly massive MD-2 production have led to a slump in supply quality, and devaluation of the variety. Unregulated increase in world production has contributed to the appearance of cyclical crises on the main importer markets, which have weakened the profitability of the product and industry, as well as producer revenue. In addition, the sector has for a decade been under fire from environmental and social controversies. Better regulation of the supply could contribute to preventing destructive cycles, which have now become predictable.