Things are going from bad to worse. According to data from Asprocan, a non-profit organization that brings together the six banana producers organizations (OPP) that currently exist in the Canary Islands, the Canary banana sector has been unable to solve the tough marketing problems it has had since last year, and the new president of Asprocan, Henry Sicilia (who was elected on April 19 after Coplaca- the biggest banana producer organization in the islands- proposed him), has not found a solution or contributed any new and innovative ideas to solve the sector's problems.
Sicilia has only been in the job for less than three months, but the involution that consolidated in the final stage of his predecessor, Santiago Rodriguez, persists; even in Asprocan and in Asaga Canarias.
The data from Asprocan paints a bleak scenario as, up until week 27 of 2016, which ended on Sunday July 10, the Canary Islands had withdrawn 9.2 million kilos of bananas from the market in little more than six months at the request of Asprocan (of its marketing committee, with the approval of the Ministry of Agriculture).
This amount was sent to the environmental complex and the Food Bank. By week 27 this year, 5.8 million kilos had been sent to the environmental complex, although Sicilia prefers to say they were used to feed the islands' livestock, which is politically correct but makes producers laugh as the quantity used for this purpose was minimal. The remaining 3.4 million tons were channeled through the Food Bank from the first of January until the tenth of July 2016.
More shipments to the Food Bank and almost an equal amount to the landfill
That 9.2 million threshold is higher by a little more than one million kilos to the level recorded in the same period of 2015 (8.1 million kilos, 5.9 to feed livestock, the landfill, and 2.2 million for the Food Bank). Thus, things are worse and less sustainable economically this year; as the average prices perceived by banana producers have been lower than usual and they have been paid as low as 0.30 € per kilo for many weeks (which is lower than the cost of production inputs).
The only thing that Sicilia has managed to change is increasing the shipments of bananas to the Food Bank (which is politically more correct) by more than 1.2 million kilos in the same period. In turn, this represents more expenses for producers, as they fund this shipping costs to limit their supply.
Considering the variables of the withdrawal of fruit so far this year, it is very likely that the final balance of 2016 is even worse than in the previous year, when producers discarded part of their supply until week 31, especially because of the low prices in the Peninsula. If things continue this way, producers still have a tough month of uncertainty.
In the past year, producers withdrew 3% of the bananas they marketed; i.e. if they had not withdrawn this product the archipelago would have exported and marketed 386 million kilos in the Canary Islands' domestic market.
The main crop and the first export activity
Currently, the Canary banana sector is undergoing one of its worst moments. Prices are low in their only market of arrival (the rest of Spain and some in Portugal); producers destroyed or withdrew nearly six million kilos of fruit by week 27 (except on the weeks there is an election campaign, so as to not affect the polls); there's been a decrease in sales quota in the Peninsula, according to official customs data; and there are very poor short and medium-term prospects for the sector, mainly because sale prices, which stand at 0.38 and 0.40 euro per kilo, don't cover local production costs, even with the 141 million euro aid to this fruit integrated into the POSEI program.
Last year, the Canary Islands sold about 375 million kilos of bananas. Nearly 50% of that offer was accounted by some 400 large producers. These producers also receive most of the 141 million euro per year Community aid, which is paid in two installments and after the closure of the natural semesters.
According to official data of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Water of the Canary Islands, the islands devote nearly 9,100 hectares to banana crops mainly in Tenerife, followed by La Palma, Gran Canaria, La Gomera, and El Hierro. 3,200 hectares are of protected cultivation, in greenhouses or under meshes, while the remaining 5.900 hectares are open air crops. The banana is the primary activity that contributes the most to the GDP of the Canary Islands.
Source: eldiario.es