"Demand for bananas not too great"

It is currently quiet on the banana market. "The market is not moving brilliantly," Rüdiger Selnow of Andreas Kupfer & Sohn GmbH from Nuremberg explains. "The situation is currently neither particularly good nor particularly bad. Prices are stable and the purchasing behaviour of the customers is rather relaxed."

Price-wise, there are no large market fluctuations in the banana domain, the expert explains. "This is a thing of the past. The banana is a classical weekly-rate article. The prices are determined for a longer time period. The daily rate is only still taking place, and here in Germany we deal with weekly rates," Selnow continues. "Other than with tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumbers, where the prices oscillate daily, for bananas the prices are always adjusted on a weekly basis."

Low demand in winter
The wholesale trader continues: "The customers' demand is not too large at the moment. We are currently at a time where bananas do not play a large role. Other articles are in stronger demand - at least here in Germany. In other countries, such as for example in Czechia, things look very differently. Over there, in winter- and Christmas time a lot of bananas have been purchased traditionally."

Supply and demand maintain balance
The situation is not extraordinary in the food retail trade either. "some advertising campaigns are going on here and there, but that is very normal", the ripeness controller tells. "Price-wise, there are no large changes there either." The inflows from the countries of origin are abundant. "Supply and demand are maintaining balance. The products from the countries of origin that arrive green can satisfy the customers' demand without a problem," the expert reports.

Origin in Ecuador and Guatemala
The firm Andres Kupfer & Sohn GmbH has its own banana ripening facility to let the bananas ripen optimally. As a member of the Cobana Fruchtring-Gruppe, the wholesale trader receives 100% of its bananas directly from the Hamburg importer. "Our bananas' countries of origin are for example Ecuador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras. However, the largest quantities currently come from Ecuador and Guatemala."

The wholesale trader reports that the share of organic and fair-trade bananas is relatively small at the firm Kupfer & Sohn. "Their share is relatively small. Around 15 percent of our bananas are traded organically or fair-trade," says Selnow. "The so-called baby- or gourmet bananas also do not play a great role for us."

Rüdiger Selnow
Kupfer & Sohn GmbH
Leyher Str. 107, 90431 Nürnberg
Tel. +49 (0) 911 32477-27
rs@kupfer-sohn.de
www.kupfer-sohn.de