EU: Slight improvement banana prices

After weeks of relatively low banana prices, price levels have finally improved in the last fortnight. “We see light at the end of the tunnel,” an importer quips. “Usually December isn’t the ideal month for bananas, but supply of fruit hasn’t been that great lately. Right now, banana prices are doing 12 to 13 Euro on the free market.”

According to the importer, demands are normal. “I suspect both the market and the price to improve in the second week of January. That is, if the winter isn’t too severe. Frost is not good for bananas, but right now things are looking decent.”

A recent trade agreement between the EU and 11 Latin American countries concerning fixed rates for imported bananas, didn’t faze the importer. “We knew about these regulations beforehand,” he says. In 2009 various parties agreed to an import tax reduction from 176 Euro per ton to 114 Euro in 2017. “This, of course, is good news to all importers, if it weren’t for the fact that other costs, like logistics, are rapidly increasing.”