"Fyffes Exec: "Takeovers have been an important factor in the growth of Fyffes"

It is not very common that a news story within our sector comes along that has such an impact on the international economy, as the news that Chiquita and Fyffes was to merge. Analysts believe that the merger was due to the fact that there is less and less to be earned in the banana market. This is also true in the European market where supermarkets are often using low banana prices as a way to lure in customers.

Chiquita has been experiencing a lot of competition from the two other fruit giants, Del Monte and Dole in the last few years, which has meant a decrease of almost half in the market share. Dole overtook Chiquita a couple of years ago by becoming the largest banana producer in the world, with a market share of 19 percent. Fyffes is the fourth producer in the world. Consequently, with this merger, both companies have immediately become the largest in one fell swoop.

The question is what the result of the fusion will mean to the European banana market? Univeg is the largest distributor of Chiquita bananas in Europe at the moment, which had meant that they were in direct competition with Fyffes. Management from the competition are still needing to offer their approval with the merger.

Coen Bos

Fyffes Chief Operating Officer Coen Bos, spoke about the position of the company within Europe, during a recent FreshPlaza interview: "When you look at the market share in Europe, Fyffes is the largest in the area of bananas at the moment. After that it is, I think, Chiquita, followed by Dole then Del Monte. Chiquita has lost a lot of market share in recent years, especially in Europe. But also in America. The current management seems to be focussing on bananas more again, which may lead to improvement of the market share."

When questioned about Fyffes position on takeovers, Bos responded, “We like partners. This is why our history is full of (partial) takeovers. With (partial) takeovers we are interested in the company first of all. The first thing we try to do is to keep the management, and if possible the owner. We strive to maintain the company’s own identity and to only supplement where we can find synergies, where it makes sense. The companies continue to operate autonomously for a large part. Of course, we are not afraid of complete company takeovers. Takeovers have been an important factor in the growth that Fyffes has gone through over the last few decades.”