Banana supplies are down by an estimated 20 percent. “There’s a huge drop in banana supplies that’s all across the Americas--Central America, Colombia, Mexico. Everyone is down on supplies pretty significantly,” says Andy Thomas-Stivalet of Kadivac Produce.
There are a few factors behind the drop, starting with rain that hit Central America a few weeks ago and caused issues with supply. “We also had the storms that knocked out a lot of supply in the Caribbean islands and then we had other storms that hit Tabasco in Mexico which also caused a lot of damage two weeks ago,” he says.
He also notes that bag counts from most farms in the Americas are also lower than in previous years. “One area in Mexico usually bags 525,000 stems a week and they’re down to a little bit over 350,000 stems a week,” says Thomas-Stivalet, adding that the cloudy weather 10-13 weeks ago is partly to blame. “But people also stopped fertilizing when the fertilizer increases happened a year ago and that takes about 18 months to start really feeling it. Overall supply will normally drop at this time of year. But it’s never dropped this much with the same amount of planted surface area. It’s a bit abnormal.”
The lack of supply first hit about a month ago and it’s likely to go on until the end of March.
Banana demand also up
At the same time, demand has increased. Normally heading into the holiday season, particularly starting around Thanksgiving, demand for bananas tends to slow down. Instead, demand has increased recently by five to 10 percent.
There’s also growth in a sister category--plantains. “Some stores have seen a growth of 30 percent in their plantain volume and that’s a new development,” Thomas-Stivalet says, noting part of this is fueled by a growing U.S. immigrant population from countries where plantains are a staple food.
Not surprisingly, this means increased prices. “In the last 10 months, prices have gone up on retail by 3-4 cents/lb. which hasn’t happened in a really really long time,” he says. “It helps a lot but it’s not enough to cover the inflationary increases we’ve been seeing. However, it’s a step in the right direction that even with that price increase, we’ve seen demand go higher.”
It’s also currently the time of year when contract negotiations are underway for banana supplies and Thomas-Stivalet believes the wholesale price for a box of bananas is going to be at least $1 over what it was last year.
For more information:
Andy Thomas-Stivalet
Kadivac Produce
Tel: (+52) 962-625-3303
Sales@kavidac.com
https://www.kavidac.com/