The businessman Alvaro Noboa suggested recently that the Government investigate four banana-exporting companies so as to verify compliance with the payment of the minimum reference price.
The official value is USD 5.50 per box, but growers complain that they receive less than USD 2 in the spot market, ie, no contracts. He quoted firms like Derby, Banafruit, Excelban and Don Ati. "Call them today and see what price is being paid," Noboa said during a press conference at Molinera Industrial.
He said he is convinced that exporting companies brands like Bonita, Del Monte, Chiquita and Dole are paying the official price of the fruit. Noboa warned two weeks ago that the banana industry would enter a crisis. He mentioned that already
we are starting to see the first signs, like the presence of classified ads in newspapers, where according to Noboa, farms are on sale.
He also mentioned that there are existing conversion crop programs and that "farms are closing... and it will become worse and that is irreversible."
Regarding the spraying against black Sigatoka, a fungus that damages the plantations, he said that the government announced "there is no point for the Minister of Agriculture to offer to fumigate the small producer´s crops, when there
are over 250 million banana boxes of which over half are not being fumigated."
According to Noboa the solution is to respect the official price of banana so producers can deal with the pests themselves. For Paul Gonzalez, president of the Agricultural Center of Machala (El Oro), "Noboa is the worst person to wield that kind of judgment."
According to him, this entrepreneur is one of the people who least follows good business practices in Ecuador. "Two weeks ago, employees from Noboa´s company told a group of producers of El Oro that due to damage of some ships they would not buy fruit." This, despite having contracts. "Not only does he fails to stop paying the official price, but, fails to buy what was agreed on.
"There are many ways to avoid paying," said Gonzalez. As for the brands mentioned by Noboa for investigation, the unionleader said that Banafruit is supposedly linked to businessman Juan José Pons; Excelban is a memeber of the German family
Durbek and Derby, of an importer named Raftor. Don Ati, which is from Atilio Solano, entrepreneur from El Oro. Jovanny Coronel of the Producers Association of Guabo said that there are companies that fail to pay the official price. Coronel stressed that "there are producers who get paid up to USD 1.50." He questioned the Derby brand, which is sent to Russia, as one of those working in the spot market (no contracts). He agreed that companies with brands such as Dole, Chiquita, and Bonita do pay USD 5.50. Although he noted that there are companies that "sign contracts for 1000 cases with producers, but 500 are paid at the official price and the other 500 are paid at USD 1."
Source: ElComercio.com