Representatives of the banana export sector rejected the warning issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) last Tuesday about possible sanctions against two export companies due to alleged irregularities observed in shipping plans.

And this after the State Department reported that it was investigating whether these companies falsified 104 of these documents before the Banana Control System, which would have allowed the export of boxes of bananas without proper approval.

The ministry opened files on two banana exporting companies for allegedly falsifying 104 shipment plans

Earlier on Sunday, MAG announced adjustments to Form 150, used for fruit exports, to prevent evasion of controls and ensure that all bananas leaving the country for various international destinations do so with signed contracts. respecting the minimum support price (PMS), which for this year is $6.50.

José Antonio Hidalgo, executive director of the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE), admits that “any counterfeiting scheme is not right, from any side”; although it indicates that these types of processes, rather than being made public as led by MAG, must be handled internally with various actors and their legal counterparts. For his part, Richard Salazar, executive director of the Ecuador Banana Marketing and Export Association (Acorbanec), assures that there is no counterfeiting and that the sector offers the opportunity to “clarify what needs to be clarified.”

“Our contracts with PMS are paid without a problem, because they sell to Europe, Russia, the US and the UK,” says the manager, although he admits that there are other markets that buy by modality. stainsi.e. without contract and at market price, such as the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Africa and part of Russia.

However, Salazar complains that the export sector is only singled out as the one that violates the Banana Law, recalling that it was the producers who refused to sign contracts at the end of 2022 in order to sell the fruit at a reasonable price. stainswhich was higher than PMS at the time and reached about $10 to $13 per case within a few weeks.

“The banana law is in place, but have you heard about the sanctions against producers due to unsigned contracts? Everything is against the export sector, they didn’t want to sign contracts in violation of the law and I don’t see any file against any of them”, complains Salazar who also warns that the export sector will not sign contracts now because they were already signed from outside.

“We had to adjust sales abroad stains considering the position of the producer”, Salazar claims and reveals that for sales under this modality, which is not prescribed by the Banana Law, producers and exporters agree on the price at which the fruit will be sold.

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He reminded that, considering the refusal of the producers to sign the contracts, MAG extended those that expired in December 2022 so that they are in force until April this year and thus the fruit comes out with this guarantee. However, these extended contracts, plus several signed this year, only cover 65% of the supply for export, in theory, according to the leader.

The remaining 35%, which corresponds to the buying markets stainswould remain in the country and would call into question the supply of these destinations, due to increased controls, so fruit is exported only with the contracts that MAG announced these days.

Nikcola Mora, undersecretary for Musáceas Strengthening, assures that from the 23rd week (from next June 5) no box of bananas that are not in the contract may be exported. “Until now, there was a way, but today there will be no way to export a box that is not in the contract, as the law provides,” says the official.

According to MAG, those who do not pay PMS can go to prison for three years.

And just at the time when the export of bananas is growing. According to the latest data from Acorbanec, 132.47 million boxes were exported from January to April last year, 4.46 percent more than what was exported in the same period in 2022.

31.06% went to the European Union; 23.43% to Russia as the second largest destination; 13.44% to the Middle East; 9.48% to the United States; 6.29% to the southern cone; 4.89% was exported to Africa; to East Asia 4.64%; 2.86% to Central Asia; 1.42% to Eastern Europe; 1.26% to the United Kingdom; 0.80% to Oceania (New Zealand); 0.37% according to EFTA (Norway); 0.01% in Canada; and 0.06% to other markets.

In this regard, Hidalgo points out that the sector always respects the formality of business and reminds that from the beginning they insisted that the contracts be signed.

Based in Guayaquil, the banana growers insist on getting only $2 or $3 per box of bananas

“At the beginning of the year, it was a completely different scenario from the perspective of how to deal with the market price and the producers decided to go for that market price (stains) and don’t sign their contracts and today they experience a drop in the market price, that’s the option they chose,” says Hidalgo, who admits that the authorities must act according to the tools they have at hand, but thinks they need to consider that this is the alternative the producers have chosen.

Hidalgo believes that MAG should not have allowed bananas to go on sale stains. “Why was there no action when the price was high, and when the price was low, if the law and regulations are for everyone,” asks Hidalgo.