The Costa Rican pineapple grower that was recently ordered to pay a Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. (NYSE:FDP) subsidiary US$32 million says it will appeal the ruling.

Two weeks ago the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ordered Inversiones y Procesadora Tropical, S.A. (Inprotsa) to pay Del Monte International GmbH (Del Monte) the sum in damages, interest and other monetary relief.

At the time Fresh Del Monte said the ICC’s award recognized its right to ‘virtually all of the gold pineapple vegetative material’ on Inprotsa’s plantation.

Inprotsa has now announced it will oppose what is described as an ''arbitrary" award, claiming Del Monte did not have exclusivity with respect to the MD-2 pineapple variety.

The major pineapple grower also said it rejected the multinational's "new attempt to obstruct the commercial activity of its competitors."

"This is not the first time that Del Monte has tried to improperly prevent Inprotsa and other competitors from commercializing the pineapple variety known as MD-2," Inprotsa alleged in a statement.

"Over the years, Del Monte has maliciously caused the market to believe that it exclusively owned the MD-2 pineapple variety," the group alleged.

"This fact has now been completely clarified: Del Monte does not have any exclusivity whatsoever with respect to this variety of pineapple."

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