Ecuador wants to send a gourmet banana, with a different size and calibre than that of the fruit that is sent to the Southern Cone countries and to Brazil as it removed the sanitary restrictions that existed for imports in April.
Currently both countries are tuning the details to enable shipments. However, the first commercial contacts have already begun, such as the analysis of transportation alternatives to send the fruit to that country, which remained blocked since 1997.
Brazil restricted banana imports claiming they had pests such as the banana moko and black sigatoka, which affects the plants' leaves.
Manuel Romero, director of Agroban, explained that, since Brazil also produces bananas, the idea was to target a market with high purchasing power, with a premium fruit, such as the fruit that they export to the United States and the European Union.
"It is clear that we must take premium fruit to Brazil so it can be differentiated from the local fruit," says Romero.
The Cavendish variety sent to Europe has a minimum size of 18 inches and a calibre that is between 39 and 46 millimetres.
While there still are no firm buyers, a group of banana producers contacted a Brazilian chain, at a recent business conference held in Guayaquil, which would be interested in buying the product.
Romero, who participated in these events, said that the logistics were important to realize orders and that they were analysing which was the best shipping alternative.
Meanwhile, Eduardo Ledesma, director of the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador, estimated that they could initially send 20,000 boxes of bananas per week to Brazil, the biggest country in South America.
Source: Eluniverso.com