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Dole Sunshine is synonymous with good taste and good health across the world. With its entry into the India market in 2019, the brand now offers a wide array of deliciously guilt-free offerings including dried fruits, Dole juice gels and fruit bowls. Dole Sunshine actively supports the idea of fresh, natural flavours based on real fruits. In keeping with this festival timing, Dole Sunshine India is all ‘juiced up’ to launch Dole 100 % Fruit Juice – a refreshing pineapple drink enriched with Vitamin C.

In a huge market for juices, most of the packed fruit juices contain added sugar and preservatives along with the fruit pulp, whereas Dole is introducing 100 % Pineapple Juice which is all-natural with no added sugar or artificial preservatives. This successfully makes it one of the very few juice offerings in the market that does not contain added sugar. What’s more, its zesty pineapple flavour with vitamin C fortification makes it a terrific choice when looking for a pick-me-up during work, a fresh drink after a workout or if one simply want to pour the kids a tall glass of all-natural fruit juice.

As a brand, Dole Sunshine India has always believed in the wholesome goodness of fruits and this new beverage launch perfectly ties in with their principles. “At Dole, we believe that fruits are real powerhouses of nutrition. As an F&B brand, it is our duty to leverage this goodness for our consumers, so that they can incorporate such healthy changes in their daily lives. Moreover, we’ve always been against the idea of added preservatives or flavours, since our offerings have always been pure and packed with nutrition. And that’s how Dole 100 % Fruit Juice came about. This new beverage is made from fresh fruit concentrate and is an excellent source of Vitamin C. It’s also GMO-free and gluten-free, which makes it a tasty but healthy offering for children, too,” says Mudit Mathur of Dole Sunshine India.

Apart from being nutritious, unadulterated and pure, Dole 100 % Fruit Juice is also a versatile drink. One can sip it as is, serve it in a mocktail or even use it to shake up a cocktail or two, to serve at house parties and get juiced up. Simply put, it’s pure pineapple goodness.

Tridge, the global sourcing and market intelligence hub for food buyers and suppliers, has predicted how the La Nina weather system is likely to impact tropical fruit crops – avocado, mango, and pineapple – in parts of South America, Asia, and Australasia. These predictions can help food buyers globally to mitigate the risks of La Nina on their supply chains.

La Nina is a weather phenomenon that occurs every few years including 2020. During La Nina, changes in Pacific Ocean temperatures impact tropical rainfall patterns from Indonesia to the west coast of South America.

Avocado – New Zealand could suffer where Peru could succeed

La Nina is expected to have both positive and negative effects on Avocado.

New Zealand’s avocado growers have been suffering a prolonged dry spell and eagerly awaiting rainfall for 20 months. However, the heavy rain likely because of la Nina could be detrimental to their avocado yields.

Abhishek Dudejja, Engagement Manager at Tridge New Zealand, said, “It only takes two to three days of rainfall for avocado trees suffering from water stress to recover. Although avocado trees need plenty of water, too much can quickly tip the balance and cause problems such as root rot and asphyxiation. The impacts of this include reduced yields, and smaller and lower quality fruits with a shorter shelf life.”

In contrast, Peru, with a favorable geographical and climatic condition in South America could benefit from La Nina. The colder temperatures this weather system causes could help avocados mature more effectively. Irrigation levels are also currently at the right level for a good harvest.

Cinzia Riccio, Engagement Manager at Tridge Peru, commented, “While la Nina might cause later avocado flowering than normal, the cooler temperatures that are likely should reduce the level of pests, protecting crops. On balance, Peru Avocado appears to be a winner from La Nina.”

Mango – problems expected in Peru and Southeast Asia

For Mangos, the prognosis looks poor in several regions. Prolonged dry spells in Peru, added to an already dry 2020 could impact Mango productivity and prices. In Piura, northern Peru, the country’s top mango growing region, there have been ongoing water shortages and 50 % of its reservoir is depleted.

Jin Woo Lee, Market Analyst at Tridge, said, “This year we’re expecting Peruvian mango to be at least 15 % lower than in 2019, which will increase prices.”

In Southeast Asia, Vietnam and Thailand are experiencing typhoons and facing the prospect of more heavy rain and flooding. This could cause several issues for mango crops, including decreased productivity, internal rotting, canker, and fruit fly, which could mean suspension of exports for phytosanitary reasons.

Pineapple – Costa Rica feels the dual pressures of C-19 and La Nina

Costa Rican pineapples may be scarcer than normal in importing countries such as the US due to reduced demand and supply caused by COVID-19 and la Nina combined. 86 % of US pineapple imports are from Costa Rica, valued at 616 Million USD in 2019.1

Tridge’s Jin Woo Lee said, “COVID-19 has made reefer containers for pineapple shipping to the US scarce. Added to this, heavy rainfall over the past few weeks is affecting the quality of the fruit.”

Since October 2020, Costa Rica’s principal pineapple farming regions, Alajuela and Heredia, have seen well over two and a half times average rainfall2 leading to reduced yield and quality.

One US buyer of Costa Rican pineapples commented, “pineapples are normally sold at retail with a greenish-yellow exterior, which indicates full ripeness. However, over the past month, we’ve been receiving products which are either too ripe or not ripe enough to be sold properly, as pineapples stop ripening after they are picked.”

Despite this drop in supply, export prices to the US have decreased, because COVID-19 has caused reduced demand from US buyers. Equally, the heavy rainfall worsened by la Nina is unnerving Costa Rican suppliers about the quality of their product and therefore its value.

According to Jason Kong, Operations Managers at Tridge, “12kg of Costa Rican MD-2 Pineapples were traded at $6.2 in October 2020 but now they are at $5.0.”

Hoshik Shin, CEO of Tridge, commented: “La Nina will cause a turbulent end to an already difficult year for many fruit growers. It is another reminder of why both food growers and buyers globally need to be prepared for change and disruption and be ready to adapt or switch their supply lines and routes to market quickly using digital trading platforms and expert partners. At Tridge we’re supporting an increasing volume of organisations on both sides of the food supply chain who are seeking this agility.”

1Tridge: https://www.tridge.com/products/pineapple/import/US
2UN Seasonal Explorer: https://dataviz.vam.wfp.org/seasonal_explorer/rainfall_vegetation/visualizations#

About Tridge
Tridge is a global trade ecosystem where buyers and suppliers of agricultural and food products can find everything they need to understand their markets with just a simple search. Using a combination of the latest digital technology and the latest insights gathered through a human network, they provide a very powerful global-scale platform for buyers and suppliers to connect and do business with each other more confidently.
Using a global network covering over 150 countries worldwide, Tridge has developed a comprehensive data set of 300,000,000+ prices and 1,600,000,000+ trade data points covering 1000+ items in the agriculture and food sector and successfully facilitates the B2B and B2C trading of these items. Tridge aims to achieve digitalization and globalization of the trade industry.

To prep for the warmer weather and festivities summer brings, Smoothie King launched Metabolism Boost smoothies—designed to boost metabolism and help control appetite.

Metabolism Boost smoothies are made with clean ingredients and come in two flavors—Strawberry Pineapple and Mango Ginger. When combined with a fitness routine, these smoothies help guests boost metabolism and control their appetite with whole, organic veggies, non-GMO fruit and naturally derived caffeine. An excellent source of both fiber and protein, Metabolism Boost smoothies help guests feel fuller and satisfied longer, and when combined with Smoothie King’s proprietary Metabolism Boost enhancer, help to accelerate metabolism and calorie burning.

Metabolism Boost smoothies are the newest menu item designed to help guests feel their best for swimsuit season and beyond. Smoothie King is committed to helping guests attain their health and fitness goals through nutritious smoothies complete with whole fruits, organic vegetables and no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.

For health-conscious guests looking for the perfect meal replacement smoothie to Rule the Day, Metabolism Boost smoothies are masterfully crafted with nutritious, wholesome ingredients and contain 280 calories and over 17 grams of protein per 20 ounces.

  • Smoothie King Metabolism Boost Strawberry Pineapple: Strawberries, pineapples, protein blend, Gladiator Protein vanilla, fiber, kiwi apple juice blend and Metabolism Boost enhancer
  • Smoothie King Metabolism Boost Mango Ginger: Mangos, organic ginger, banana, organic spinach, protein blend, Gladiator Protein vanilla, fiber, white grape lemon juice blend and Metabolism Boost enhancer

Metabolism Boost smoothies are available in all Smoothie King locations in the US.

Mexifrutas and ct Finance AG (with its subsidiary Frutco AG) have signed an agreement for close collaboration in various fields.

Mexifrutas is working in the field of processing of tropical fruits in Mexico and Costa Rica. Mexifrutas will open a new factory for banana puree and pineapple juice NFC as well as -concentrate in Costa Rica in early 2020. Mexifrutas main market is North America.

ct Finance AG is managing a group of companies, which are working in the field of farming, farm management, processing and marketing of raw material and retail products. ct Finance AG main market is Europe.

In the first step, Frutco AG as subsidiary of ct Finance AG, will market banana puree of Mexifrutas in Europe and Middle East. Customers who were previously served directly by Mexifrutas will continue to be supported on this journey. In Summer 2020 Frutco will open as well a processing plant for banana puree In Colombia. Both groups have control over large plantations of bananas to fulfill the request of multinational customers to secure resources for them.

For the customers these two origins have a great advantage:

  • Risk reduction because of Storms, Political issues, Force Majeure
  • Best Customer Service by language, at place just in time

Both parties have hands on the raw material – security of supply – transparent supply chains and food safety.