Ecuador: Strong Russian market growth for banana export
expected by the exporters. "Now the summer is coming in Europe and other fruits are competing like peaches, watermelons. This phenomenon is cyclical, it's every year." Assures Engineer Ricardo Flores, Attorney General of Ecuador's banana export company Nelfrance Export S.A. "These first six months were particularly interesting in the Russian market. The Russian market grew a lot. There were many exports to Russia in general and prices were good from the fifth week, generally speaking." says Flores, referring to the first half of 2012 for the banana industry in Ecuador. Ricardo Flores in the Nelfrance stand, at the 9th International Forum of Bananas in Guayaquil, Ecuador on June 1st.
Typically when May begins prices start to fall and the situation becomes more of
supply and demand. "There is little market demand but if there is low supply, prices could go back up or stay stable. If there is an oversupply, particularly in the banana production from Central America, prices could collapse." Says Ricardo. For Ecuador's banana exporters competition from Central America is always very significant. The transportation costs in Ecuador are higher than those of the fruit in Central America, because Ecuadorian bananas always have to cross the Panama Canal. However, Ricardo Flores says, "The bananas from Ecuador have longer green life in the second half of the year which makes Ecuador much more competitive. We have had fruit that has reached the market 60 days after it was sent and arrived perfectly. This is a luxury we can not give exporters in Central America. This is a particular characteristic of the fruit from Ecuador. The reason are the low temperatures that start in June. The fruit grows faster so it has a longer green life," says Ricardo Flores. Regarding last winter Flores says, "This winter was really very good for certain areas of Ecuador. For the El OrovZone was great. However, the province of Los Rios in particular for farms located near rivers, were flooded and suffered great losses. The Quevedo area suffered a little less."
The main threat that Ricardo can observe for the banana industry and fruit in general is the economic problems of the European community. Consumers are much more careful with their purchases. People are buying the most essential first and eating fruit tends to be a luxury in some countries." Anyway we can see markets like Germany where bananas have become a food that is part of the German diet." Analyzed Flores.
About Nelfrance:
NelFrance is an exporter banana company from Ecuador which was created in 2001. Currently they have been exporting 4 million boxes of bananas a year and hope that this year will follow this trend. The main Nelfrance export markets are Argentina, Uruguay, Jordan, Egypt, Italy, Turkey, Ukraine, Greece, the Middle East and Russia. "Nelfrance's policy is high quality fruit. We bet mainly on high quality and traceability because we try to ensure our customers excellent performance." Ricardo Flores concluded.
For more information:
Ricardo Flores [email protected]www.nelfrance.com