According to data from the Central Bank of Honduras (BCH) up until July, the banana sector, which is made up of independent producers and the transnational companies Chiquita and Dole, exported more than 16 million boxes of bananas at an average price of $25.71, for a total value of $419.4 million. This figure reflects the recovery of plantations and production growth compared to the fall recorded in 2021 due to the damage caused to the country's banana-producing sector by the passage of storms Eta and Iota.
Producers are benefiting from this year's prices, as the average price of a box of bananas this year ($25.71) has been higher than the average price in the same period of previous years, i.e. $17.86 in 2018; $15.55 in 2019; $19.63 in 2020; $18.26 in 2021, and $21.91 in 2022.
"This growth in exports is the product of the recovery of the farms of the transnational companies and about three farms of independent producers," stated Maynor Velásquez, the manager of the Association of National Banana Producers (Aprobana).
According to Aprobana data, there are more than 1,500 hectares that have not been put back into production since the end of 2020 because the owners have not found financing to reactivate their farms. If this area were reactivated, it would provide around four million boxes, Velásquez added.
Source: laprensa.hn