Bananas have been always been a favorite fruit in China. Since February, however, prices have been rising dramatically. Compared to the same time last year, the purchase price in many production regions has gone up by 60% to 100%. So far, the market prices of some domestic bananas are almost as high as imported ones.
Banana farmers in many production regions suffered a great financial loss in 2016 due the prolonged cold weather. In Guangxi, one of the major production areas, the significant decline in banana production did not drive the selling prices higher accordingly. One of the major reasons behind this was that China lifted the ban against imported bananas from the Philippines in early October, 2016. With bananas from the Philippines entering the local market here in large quantities, the competitiveness of domestic bananas was reduced, which directly led to a fall in their purchase prices. During the following months, the banana market went through a smooth transition.
With the arrival of the early spring in 2017, the temperature in North China went up gradually, which accelerated the sales of bananas and drove the prices higher and higher. In addition, fruits like strawberries, cherries and tomatoes are not yet available in the market on a large scale before April and May, so there won't be so many substitutes for bananas for consumers. Thus, the rise of the market price of bananas is quite understandable. After April and May, people will turn to other seasonal fruits, so the price of bananas is unlikely to increase greatly during the second half of the yea
