Ecuador's banana exports to Ukraine fell by -99.17% or 1.55 million boxes less in February 2023 compared to the month just before the Russian invasion started a year ago in February 2022. Only 13 060 boxes were sent to Ukraine this February compared to last year’s 1,566,944 boxes, which clearly shows the negative impact of the Russian war on Ukraine and its people as well as the wider impact on the international community.
While banana exports from Ecuador to Russia has gone close to pre- war levels, it is not back to the same levels as before the invasion of Ukraine. As a single market Russia received the bulk of Ecuador’s banana exports in this period which was -8.02% less than last year.
After starting 2023 well by exporting 7.89% more banana boxes in January, Ecuador’s banana sector has decreased by -0.26% with 2.32 million boxes less in February 2023 compared to the same month last year. Not only did volumes decrease, there was also a decrease in dollar sales in the sector.
The world leaders in banana exports has seen a decrease to Eastern Europe -29.11%, the Middle East -12.74% and -17.56% to Europe EFTA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) and -11.73% less to Asia. A total of 42.83 million boxes were shipped to the top three export markets with 31.30% going to the European Union, 24.58% to Russia and 12.12% to the Middle East. Cumulative exports of banana boxes for February 2023 was 62.99 million boxes compared to February 2022 with 63.15 million boxes.
The statistics are based on the latest reports issued by the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE) and the Ecuador Banana Marketing and Export Association (Acorbanec).
“The largest reductions by type of banana boxes are evident in baby bananas and red bananas. The baby banana-type box reduced its exports by 27.10%, going from exporting 0.28 million boxes in 2022, to 0.21 million boxes in 2022, that is, 0.08 million boxes of bananas not exported. Likewise, banana net-type boxes decreased their export level by 24.94%, that is, 1.91 thousand less boxes exported in 2023 compared to 2022. On the other hand, the 22XU type boxes reported an increase in their level of exports of Ecuadorian bananas. In 2023, an additional 1.17 million boxes of this brand were exported,” said José Antonio Hidalgo, Executive Director of AEBE.
The top Ecuadorian ports are Guayaquil with 41.46 million boxes (a 66.95% participation), Puerto Bolívar with 14.76 million boxes (23.43% participation) and Posorja with 6.76 million boxes (10.74% share).
“If we analyse banana exports by country, Russia is the country to which the largest bananas have been destined with a participation of 23.10%, in second place, the United States with 11.55%; in third place, the Netherlands with 7.80%, in fourth place, Turkey with 4.94%, in fifth place Italy with 4.70%,” says Richard Salazar, Executive Director of Acorbanec.
Regarding the summary of the Banana Weekly Market Sense for the month of February, it is highlighted that, at the level of sales in dollars, the barometer presented a decreasing trend in the global consensus of the value chain experts, going from 2.33 in the week 5 to 2.16 reported in week 9. Indicating that sales in dollars decreased in the sector.
Regarding the level of sales by volume, the barometer showed a decreasing trend in the global consensus of value chain experts, going from 2.36 in week 5 to 2.42 reported in week 9. Indicating that the sales in volume decreased in the sector.
For more information:
Jose Antonio Hidalgo,
AEBE
Tel: +593 96 402 9141
Email: communications@aebe.com.ec
www.aebe.com.ec
Richard Salazar
Acorbanec
Tel: +593 9 89857025
Email: rsalazar@acorbanec.com
www.acorbanec.com