Banana producers from all over the world agree that banana consumption should reach the level it has in the countries where its presence has been consolidated.
Last year, bananas exports totaled 509 million dollars, showing a 4.5 percent year-on-year growth; a trend that continues so far in 2018.
In 2020, the European Union and Central America will establish an 83 dollar tariff per metric ton of fruit. The national industry has had great competition from Guatemala, which has an average production yield of 6,000 boxes per hectare against the 1,800 boxes that Honduras produces.
In addition to Guatemala, several nations have bet heavily on banana production, which has caused an oversupply that has decreased prices and impacted the sector. Transnational companies pay producers 5.43 to 5.86 dollars per box, even though the price of a box should be above six dollars (141 lempiras).
The first exports to Europe fetched prices of 6.23 dollars (146 lempiras) per box.
"We need non-traditional consumer countries to start consuming," said the manager of the Association of Producers of National Bananas (Aprobana), Maynor Velasquez.
The biggest importer of bananas is the United States, where consumption remains stable throughout the year. Meanwhile, in Europe, consumption decreases at the end of summer.
Producers are looking for new buyers and they hope that the European Union will begin to liberalize the market for the export of bananas by 2020.
According to exhibitors at the International Banana Congress, which was held in September in Miami, per capita consumption of bananas in some East African countries stood at 30 kilos per year, which means between 3 and 11 bananas per day per person.
If Europe and other Latin American markets consumed that much fruit, there would be no problems due to low prices, stated the managing director of the National Banana Corporation (Corbana), Jorge Sauma.
Source: latribuna.hn