Demand for fair trade organic bananas is strong right now.
“Our best-selling months are April and May but the high demand has started early. March has been a very good month,” says Jennie Coleman of Montreal, Quebec based Equifruit. “This is just generally a good season for bananas—we’re well out of local fruit right now. But I think for us, it also has to do with increased awareness and demand for fair trade products. Our overall sales were up last year and if we’re seeing stronger sales in our peak-selling time, it has to be more awareness around it.”
Balancing supply
At the same time, supplies of the bananas are consistent. Equifruit works with two cooperatives of small producers—one in Peru and another in Ecuador--and while there’s a slight dip in product from Peru following heavy rains a few months back, Ecuador is making up the gap. “We often see a dip like this at this time of year—it’s in the cycle of production,” adds Coleman.
Meanwhile Equifruit returns this year to the upcoming Canadian Produce Marketing Association show April 2-4 in Montreal. “It’s a great opportunity to reconnect with customers and suppliers,” notes Coleman. “Our supply chain manager has just wrapped up a sourcing trip to Mexico and Guatemala, meeting producers whom we met with at CPMA last year. It’s exciting to go from the trade show floor to the field or plantation!”
Equifruit's owner Jennie Coleman's children--Juliette (l) and Paul-Henri (r) with one of the growers from Nicoverde, a Costa Rican company newly supplying Equifruit with pineapples.
Equifruit is also using this show to introduce its second fair trade organic product—pineapples. “We have a launch customer now with Sobeys Quebec,” says Coleman. “There’s still a lot of room for growth in fair trade bananas in Canada but we also see there’s an opportunity with our current customer base to introduce a second fair trade product.”
For more information:
Jennie Coleman
Equifruit, Inc.
Tel : +1-514-910-4360
jennie.coleman@equifruit.com
www.equifruit.com