Apricots, peaches, melons and strawberries are popular varieties of summer fruit. Consumers like summer fruit when it is warm and in turn, demand drops for other fruit eg. apples and bananas. "This summer the demand for bananas continues to be very good," says a major German importer of fruit, " due to the lower temperatures summer fruit has not conquered the market yet. If the temperatures would be around 25 to 30 degrees, then we would have a completely different situation."
The banana trader states that at the moment the supply meets the demand. The importer explains further “The demand is even slightly larger than the supply." The price of the bananas remains on a stable level. The trade cannot afford a price war, where a kilo of bananas is sold for 99 cents in the supermarket, according to the businessman. "The weak dollar is the reason that we can not afford such a price war. Bananas are around 20 percent more expensive than normal. "
Bio: demand is stable
The relation between the market shares of the conventional and the organic banana is quite stable, says the importer. "The demand for organic bananas fluctuates less than demand for conventional bananas. And the price of the organic banana is relatively constant. Only if the price difference with conventional bananas is too large, then the demand could drop. If the price difference is large some consumers choose the conventional banana."
But this currently is the exception explains the German importer. "The retail food prices have hardly changed this year and there are almost no advertisements for bananas. Therefore, the price ratio between organic and normal bananas doesn’t fluctuate."
Bananas from Latin America
He imports his bananas exclusively from Latin America. "Our bananas come from various Latin American countries. They include countries such as Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia and countries located in Central America." In those countries the Panama disease TR4 is currently not a big problem claims the importer. "Latin America is not yet affected by the fungus. This problem is larger in regions of Asia or Africa. And in Latin America most plantations are spared the banana fungus."