This photograph shows the local Chinese Sin Heng & Co. Pineapple Factory in 1938. The pineapple industry in Singapore during the first few decades of the 20th century saw a parallel boom with the rise in global demand for rubber as pineapples could also be cultivated on rubber estates without comprising the latter. Likewise, the pineapple canning or packing industry was also dominated by the Chinese, with the Sin Heng & Co being one of them. This industry generated a significant amount of revenue and was an important source for employment for the Chinese community, even during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Despite Chinese monopoly of pineapple cultivation and canning, most of the export business fell into the hands of European firms. Pineapple production and cultivation was gradually phased out in Singapore and Malaya during their decolonisation processes after the end of the Second World War.
