Paper instructions:

Fresh Hawaiian pineapples are larger and much sweeter than other pineapples, however, they are also two-to-three times more expensive.  Their high price has deterred most grocery stores from carrying Hawaiian pineapples, but they do carry fresh pineapples from other countries, and offer canned Hawaiian pineapple, instead.  If consumers have a certain level of demand for pineapples, explain what would happen in the marketplace, using supply and demand, if the price of Hawaiian pineapples falls to a price closer to its competition.  Would consumers switch, or would they ignore the Hawaiian pineapple.  If the production costs of growing, harvesting, and distributing all pineapples, dropped by 50%, what would happen to the market, then?

These are the Top 5 Countries that Export the Most Pineapples

Country Pineapple Exports 2008

(metric tonnes) Pineapple Exports 2004

(metric tonnes) Percent Change

Sources: FAOSTAT data: 2008 (last accessed by Top 5 of Anything: Nov 27th, 2010)

List Notes: Exports are pineapple exports in metric tonnes for the year 2008. Please note: percent change is calculated for the years 2004 and 2008 exclusively and is not an aggregate.

1 Costa Rica 1,458,980 m/t  693,107 m/t  + 110.49 %

2 Philippines 261,338 m/t  204,087 m/t  + 28.05 %

3 Belgium 234,123 m/t  193,852 m/t  + 20.77 %

4 Netherlands 216,131 m/t  57,000 m/t  + 279.17 %

5 United States of America 9,0512 m/t  68,569 m/t  32.00 %