"The demand for bananas is more stable than in previous years"

The mishaps caused by natural phenomena in Ecuador in recent months have resulted in a banana campaign with unclear results. Hugo Castro, owner of GinaFruit, explains to us what the current situation is like. "Production times have been affected by climate changes, so the harvest has kicked off weeks late. Now that the winter is starting, temperatures are 2 degrees colder than usual, so our volumes have declined nationwide," affirms the spokesperson.

Also, while South America is seeing the start of winter, in Europe the summer has already begun, and this is a period when the demand for bananas decreases significantly, although the situation has changed slightly this year. "Normally, demand for this fruit should be affected from week 18, but this season we've had great demand until week 24. Only in the last 10 days have we started recording a drop in Europe's demand. We believe that this is because multinationals have less stock from Central America, so they demand more produce from Ecuador," states Castro.

"Prices have not gone down much either; until a few weeks ago, producers received an average of $ 7.50 for the 18 kilo box, with peaks of 12 dollars in some weeks. From this week, prices stand at around $ 6.50/box, which a depreciation of just 15%, when it would normally be of 25% or more. And, in fact, we, as exporters, are the ones feeling these variations, as producers receive a stable price all year round of $ 6.16/box. This amount is guaranteed by law to protect the interests of banana producers, in order to keep them in business," affirms the representative of GinaFruit.

While demand from Europe is lower during the summer, the orders from new markets, such as Japan, Korea and the Arab countries, continue to grow. "We have grown in those markets because we are able to meet their specific needs, including packaging with certain characteristics and long transit times. For example, we, as a company, are pioneers in exporting to Singapore; our fruit has to travel for 45 days by boat to reach this destination. We firmly believe that, with these new possibilities, we can achieve a 5% growth in exports at national level compared to last year," concludes the spokesperson.

For more information:
Hugo Alfredo Castro
GinaFruit
T: + 593 999423369
E: gerencia@ginafruit.com.ec
www.ginafruit.com.ec