MLP to auction cannery items
For sale: Everything needed to prepare and can millions of pineapples.
Price: $4 million.
Maui Land & Pineapple Co. is auctioning items from its now-closed Kahului cannery this month, ending an era of canned pineapple production in the state.
More than 600 items, ranging from a stainless steel tidbit cutter to a coring and peeling machine, will go on sale Oct. 30 at the Maui Beach Hotel in Kahului and online through San Francisco-based auction company Rabin Worldwide, the company said yesterday.
MLP expects to raise about $4 million from the auction, said Teri Freitas Gorman, the company's director of corporate communications.
"Since we are the last pineapple canning operation in the United States, the auction alternative made the most sense," she said. "It's better than selling it piecemeal."
Slumping canned pineapple sales forced MLP to close the Kahului plant on June 30 and focus on fresh-pineapple operations. The company processes 4,000 acres of its Maui Gold brand pineapple on Maui.
MLP purchased the cannery in 1934, five years after it was founded. It produced 220,000 tons of pineapple in 1992, its peak year.
MLP will auction its canning machinery and 5 million pounds of tin plate used to make cans. The company is expecting to attract fruit and vegetable producers from the West Coast to Southeast Asia, according to the announcement. Buyers will be responsible for shipping.
A plant-wide inspection will take place on Oct. 29. Details and pictures of items can be viewed at www.rabin.com.