Last year, Plátano de Canarias managed once again to maintain the trust of Spanish consumers, reaching a market share of 73.9%, 1.9% more than in 2015. This growth has taken place in a very challenging season for the producers and distributors of Canary bananas, given the strong increase of the production.
This rise in the share contrasts with the consumption of other fruits in the Spanish market, marked by a continuous stagnation of the total volume in recent years. Meanwhile, according to data collected by Kantar Worldpanel's Household Food Consumption Panel, the banana market in the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands has grown by 4.7% in 2016, reaching 503,047.750 kilos.
This growth in banana consumption, with an increase of 21.5 million kilos in homes, has made it possible to market 30 million kilos of bananas more than in the previous year. Specifically, Canary bananas have increased their marketing volume in the Peninsula by 8.5%, reaching 378 million kilos for consumption.
Therefore, over the past year, Canary bananas managed to boost the fruit's demand while fully covering its own growth, taking 1.9% of the market share away from bananas from other origins. Canary bananas have thus been able to compensate for their increased production with a constant improvement of their market share, going from 61.3% in 2013 to 73.9% in 2016.
Henry Sicilia, president of ASPROCAN, stressed that "this year's production level has put a lot of pressure on the entire banana marketing chain, and we must point out that maintaining a market share above 50% is within the reach of very few products, so each percentage point that we take from bananas from other origins is a very significant step, given the margin differential that applies to Canary bananas compared to that of its competitors."
In 2016, the retail price of Canary bananas in the Peninsula increased by 2%, to an average of 1.80 Euro/kg, compared to 1.76 Euro/kg in 2015. For ASPROCAN, "the price differential between Canary bananas and those from other origins at origin barely reached 10-15 cents per kilo, so we see no reason for our product to reach the consumer with differentials of up to 55 or 60 cents compared to bananas from other origins. Undoubtedly, this has not helped us reach a higher marketing level and we believe that it is necessary to adjust the margin levels, so that producers do not continue getting paid a lower price at origin without this being reflected on the marketing and sales chain."
As a global assessment, Henry Sicilia points out that "the production level of 2016 made us face a critical campaign that the sector, with a lot of effort, has managed to overcome thanks to its teamwork. On the one hand, we have continued to optimise our investment in communication and advertising, which has undoubtedly had an impact on the activation of consumption, but on the other hand, the marketing work of all Canary Producers' Organizations has been very intense and we have stayed together during very tough periods throughout the year. Without all this work, coordinated by ASPROCAN, we could be talking about a real disaster; nevertheless, today we are actually talking about a growth of the market share and an increase of consumption."
For more information:
Marta Rodríguez
Plátano de Canarias
T: +34 922 53 51 42 /+ 34 690 876 356
E: m.rodriguez@platanodecanarias.net
www.platanodecanarias.net