In 2014, Italians apparently consumed 7% more bananas than the previous year. In fact, they went from the 7.4 kg per capita of 2000 to the 10.5 kg per capita of 2014. If we consider that a banana weighs on average 175 grams, this means that in 2014 each person ate 60 of them.
Imports reached 690.8 million kg (+5.5% than 2013) - a record quantity, as only 2008 recorded a bigger figure (708.5 million kg). Exports reached 50.6 million kg, -10% with respect to 2013. In this case, it is the lowest quantity exported in the past 15 years.
In 2014, imports were facilitated by the decrease of the average import price (-3%). The main suppliers are Ecuador, Columbia and Costarica, which shipped 82% of the total bananas imported by Italy.
Bananas: Italian trends (in tons) and apparent consumption (kg per capita)
Source: processing of Istat data
From the chart above, we can see how imports have been increasing in the past few years but less and less quantities have been re-exported. In 2000, Italy exported 18 thousand tons, 30% of the bananas imported, whereas in 2014 that percentage was only 7%.