At least one fruit seller in Singapore has been selling up to 1,000 pineapples a day this season, double the number of pineapples previously sold on a given day this time of the year, in the wake of an unifying presidential election.

The biggest winners though?

Fruit sellers in Taman Jurong, naturally.

Demand for pineapples up

This uptick in pineapple sales was reported by Shin Min Daily News.

A Taman Jurong Market and Food Centre representative, surnamed Zhang, 54, said the two fruit stalls in the building ran out of pineapples completely.

Supporters of presidential election winner, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, had to go to other estates to buy the fruit and bring them to Taman Jurong.

Fruit stall chain benefits

One fruit stall chain operator shared how the Tharman effect affected business.

The 38-year-old proprietor of Singapore Durian Boy, surnamed Chen, who operates a chain of more than 20 fruit stalls in Singapore, said the number of pineapples sold during the seventh lunar month will roughly double to about 500 a day.

With the election in full swing, the number of pineapples doubled further.

This comes up to about 1,000 pineapples sold every day.

According to Chen, the robust sales of the acidic fruit is the result of Tharman's supporters buying them to express their support for their favourite candidate.

This is on top of the regular good sales during the seventh lunar month, where pineapples are bought for worship purposes.

He added that sales have been good in Jurong, Ang Mo Kio, Yishun and Bedok.

Pineapples with ample leaves

And it is not just any good old pineapple that people want.

According to Chen, people who buy pineapples might look out for those with leaves that spread out in a flower-like pattern.

Chen said: "They generally require the leaves of the pineapple to spread out like a flower, and those who use it to pay their respects may ask for pineapples with more leaves. So, we will tell the supplier to try to give us pineapples with more beautiful leaves."

Singapore Durian Boy sells pineapples from the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Another fruit seller, surnamed Chong, aged 35, who runs a shop at Block 82 Marine Parade Central, experienced a surge of 10 to 15 per cent in demand for pineapples this September.

He said pineapples from Taiwan and the Philippines are out of stock in Singapore.

The current batch on sale, and as seen bandied about by people on television, are Sarawak pineapples from Malaysia.

Pineapples from all these countries are relatively good pineapples, he said.

Background

Top photo via Shin Min Daily News