The share of Canary bananas in terms of volume in the Spanish market in March reached 75.7% and the average for the first quarter of 2016 stood at 75.5%, according to data supplied by Kantar Worldpanel to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment and the Association of Banana Producer Organizations of the Canary Islands (ASPROCAN).
Since early this year, the Canary banana production has stayed at very high levels and this has resulted in increased pressure in the Spanish domestic market. In this sense, ASPROCAN has revealed that, while the average banana production marketed in the Peninsula between January and March over the last five years (2011-2015) stands at 96,834,631 kilograms, the production for export in the corresponding period of 2016 has exceeded that average by more than 14 million, reaching over 110 million kilograms.
The weather conditions this winter and the unexpected growth of the banana production in the Canary Islands in 2016 have remained a challenge for the companies responsible for the fruit's marketing, the Producer Organizations of Canary Bananas (OPP), although it should be noted that the marketing efforts of the OPP, together with ASPROCAN's communication activities and advertising, are being accompanied by a positive trend in the demand for Plátano de Canarias-branded bananas in Spanish homes, as highlighted by the data from Kantar Worldpanel.
ASPROCAN regrets, however, that this situation with the supply is resulting in producers generating an insufficient income, as well as the impossibility of selling 100% of the banana production. In this same period, the OPP, through the association, have fully covered the donation of 2 million kilograms to food banks in Spain and delivered around 3 million kilograms for livestock feed with no extra costs.