Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica, which account for 60% of world banana production, issued a statement that significant increases in production costs for growing and providing lower selling prices for bananas have disrupted the industry.
The increase in fertilizer prices (+35-45%), cardboard (+30%), and plastic (+45%) for packaging, tighter banana-growing standards, the introduction of biosafety measures, the increase in shipping costs (by up to 62%) due to a shortage of containers, all of these factors increased cost of banana production and export costs in Latin America.
Natural events and the COVID-19 pandemic have also impacted the banana industry negatively. In 2021, Fruit-Inform reported that banana wholesale prices reached the lowest level in ten years – 10 euros for 18.5 kilos.
“More than 808 thousand families depend on the state of the banana industry in Latin America. It is necessary that the responsibility for the industry is borne not only by the producing and exporting countries but by all the participants, including the importing countries. The involvement of all participants will ensure the sustainability of the global banana industry, ”stated by banana grower according to Freshplaza .
