Banana prices in Europe have plummeted a lot earlier this year. Normally, they decrease with the arrival of the summer fruits, but this year they began decreasing in April.
Whilst the first trimester was exceptional in terms of prices and the volume consumed in Europe, the USA and elsewhere, as of April prices plummeted. The prices were previously at a record-breaking high (€18-19 per 18.5kg box) and fell in April to prices as low a €3-5/box in Poland. Russia could not take in all of the bananas ordered and Poland was able to import their surplus. Banana consumption in Russia increased by 12-15% and by 5% in the USA.
Banana production is meanwhile in overproduction, with yields increasing exponentially in Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala and Costa Rica. Production has relaunched in Panama, Nicaragua and Honduras and the Ivory Coast should soon be exporting half a million tons of bananas. Until now the weather (cyclones and flooding) hid the fact that bananas were seeing an overproduction, and last year a lack of apples and pears worked in favour of the banana market, but the overproduction will now be hard to stop.