"Sky-high banana prices, but supermarket sales doing well"

The banana market has been on fire for a few weeks now. "I have never, in the 34 years that I've been trading bananas, seen such excessively high prices", says Hans Maangendans of ripeners, Banafood Services GmbH from the German Straelen. "We have one advantage - the cold, dry weather. This means the supermarket banana sales continue to run smoothly. You do, however, notice that at wholesale level, these high prices are somewhat hindering sales."

"The first weeks of the year are usually good for banana sales, but these prices are extreme. Last year the winter holidays and Carnaval still threw a spanner in the works. That was not the case this year', says Hans. He does not expect the situation to change anytime soon. "There is a limited supply of bananas from Latin America. Production is not optimal, and the ships are regularly delayed because of storms. It is expected that the supply will only normalise after week 12."

Banafood Services provides various clients with temperature-controlled, refrigerated transport from different European ports to their ripening facility. The company ripens several different brands such as Dole, Del Monte, Banacol, Golden organic bananas, Fyffes, Turbana, Chiquita etc. They have a ripening capacity of 35 000 boxes per week. It is also possible for them to quickly expand this capacity.

For more information:
Hans Maagendans
Banafood Services GmbH
7 Carl-Kühne Straße
47638 Straelen
hans@banafood.eu
www.banafood.eu