Record-breaking supply of bananas in Spain in one month

In March 2017, banana shipments from the Canary Islands and imports from Africa and Latin America reached new record highs. While the former rose to 43,467 tonnes, the latter amounted to 32,136 tonnes, and since re-exports stood at 6,797 tonnes, Spanish consumers had access to some 68,806 tonnes of bananas. This is about 20,827 tonnes more than last month, which means a 43.4% increase in the available supply. With these figures, the market share of imported African and Latin American bananas in March ranged from a minimum of 37% to a maximum of 47% of the available supply in Spain.

The main suppliers of imported bananas in March were Costa Rica, with 10,053 tonnes, Ivory Coast, with 6,322 tonnes, France, with 3,839 tonnes, Colombia, with 3,076 tonnes and Cameroon, with 3,055 tonnes. These five countries accounted for 82% of the total volume.

So far in 2017, shipments from the Canary Islands have exceeded 102,814 tonnes, imports from Africa and Latin America have reached 80,012 tonnes and re-exports stand at 22,979 tonnes, so the available supply has reached 159,847 tonnes, 4,454 tonnes less than in the same period of 2016. The accumulated market share of imported bananas has ranged from a minimum of 36% to a maximum of 50% of the available supply in Spain.

The main suppliers of imported bananas so far this year have been Costa Rica, with 26,367 tonnes, Ivory Coast, with 14,089, Colombia, with 10,579, France, with 10,245 and Cameroon, with 8,221 tonnes. These five countries account for 87% of the total volume.