Record volume of Canary bananas shipped in February

A record volume of bananas was shipped by the Canary Islands in February, while the volume of bananas imported from third countries fell to levels not seen for two years.

In February 2018, 34,512 tonnes were shipped from the Canary Islands, while imports, mainly from Africa and Latin America, stood at 20,043 tonnes. Since re-exports amounted to 9,019 tonnes, Spanish consumers had access to some 45,536 tonnes of bananas, which entails a 23% drop in the available supply compared to the previous month. With these figures, the market share of imported bananas in February in Spain has ranged from a minimum of 24% to a maximum of 44%.

The main suppliers of imported bananas in February were Costa Rica, with 8,314 tonnes, Colombia, with 2,997 tonnes, Ivory Coast, with 2,451 tonnes, and Cameroon, with 1,615 tonnes. Together, these four countries accounted for 77 percent of the total volume.

So far in 2018, shipments from the Canary Islands have come close to 73,073 tonnes, while the volume of imported bananas, mainly from Africa and Latin America, has stood at 48,574 tonnes and re-exports have reached 16,991 tonnes. Thus, the total available supply has amounted to 104,657 tonnes, 12,953 more than in the same period of 2017. The accumulated market share of imported bananas in Spain has ranged from a minimum of 30% to a maximum of 46%.

The main suppliers of imported bananas so far this year have been Costa Rica, with 17,208 tonnes, Ivory Coast, with 8,244 tonnes, France, with 6,322 tonnes and Colombia, with 6,053 tonnes. Together, these four countries account for 78% of the total volume imported.