In the first half of 2019, the supply of bananas and plantains available on the Spanish market in the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands increased by 7,000 tonnes, setting a new high. The volumes imported of bananas were only 10% lower than the volumes of bananas from the Canary Islands sent to the peninsular market.
In June 2019, 27,979 tonnes of fruit were shipped from the Canary Islands while imports, mainly from Africa and Latin America, reached 23,441 tonnes. As re-exports amounted to 7,576 tonnes, Spanish consumers had around 43,845 tonnes of bananas at their disposal. With these figures, the market share of bananas imported in June has fluctuated between a minimum of 36% and a maximum of 53% of the supply available in Spain.
The main suppliers of imported bananas in June were Costa Rica with 8,099 tonnes, Colombia with 6,497 tonnes and Côte d'Ivoire with 2,996 tonnes, accounting for 75% of the total volume.
So far in 2019, shipments from the Canary Islands were close to 201,404 tonnes. 181,633 tonnes of bananas have been imported and 49,105 tonnes have been re-exported, so that the available supply has risen to 333,932 tonnes, 14,222 more than in the same period in 2018. The accumulated market share of imported bananas has ranged from a minimum of 40% to a maximum of 54% of the supply available in Spain.
The main suppliers of imported bananas so far this year have been Costa Rica with 52,577 tonnes, Colombia with 47,886 tonnes and Ivory Coast with 32,861 tonnes, representing 73% of the total volume.
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