Producers, traders and exporters of bananas have until this Sunday, December 31, to report the signed contracts for the export of bananas that will be implemented from January 1, 2024, and a few days before the deadline, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) reminded by statement deadline on Wednesday, December 27 in the afternoon.

This Thursday, with three days left until the deadline, producers and exporters realize that the process is slow and that contracts for 100% fruit will not be registered until next Sunday.

Bananas maintained their good results and in 11 months they increased in exports by 7%.

The deadline is prescribed by the Law on encouraging and controlling the production and placing on the market of bananas, plantains (barraganeta) and other related musace intended for export, as well as its Rulebook and related Instructions, the state department reiterated. These contracts will have a minimum validity of one calendar year or 52-53 weeks, regardless of their subscription date.

Contracts and renewals must be submitted through a physical one-stop shop or a virtual one-stop shop. “In order to comply with this request, the Ministry asks the actors in the chain to take the appropriate steps to conclude the contract and comply with the provisions of the applicable legal regulations”, said the MAG.

Although the State Portfolio did not disclose the number of contracts signed until the date of the last announcement, the latest official report with a closing date of Thursday, December 21, according to the figures of the undersecretary for the strengthening of Musaceae, shows that they had 831 contracts signed, representing 38% of the total registered hectares and that this MAG department receives on average between 60 and 70 requests per week for the registration of sales contracts.

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However, the marketing and export sector has its own calculations. Richard Salazar, executive director of the Association for the Marketing and Export of Bananas of Ecuador (Acorbanec), predicts that between the contract and the exporter’s own fruit, the signing of the contract does not reach 50% of the supply for export.

70% of the export offer could remain without a contract

What will happen to the uncontracted fetus? Salazar recalled that “in principle MAG said that fruit that is not contracted will not be released for sale. That means you have to keep that fruit or find mechanisms to force it out.”

For its part, the manufacturing sector is not so optimistic. Franklin Torres, president of the Federation of Banana Growers of Ecuador (Fenabe), acknowledged that the process is slow. “Very little, slow progress, too slow for what’s left to hire,” Torres said of the signing. The leader projected that “it will be enough if we reach 30%”.

2023 will end with a spot price of up to $7.20 for bananas, higher than the minimum price that will be in place in 2024.

These estimates of the head of Fenabe are even below the figure of the contracted fruit that came out in 2023, which according to Acorbanec reached only 40%, the rest is by modality. place, whose average price was $7.20 at the end of the 48th week, a value higher than the Minimum Support Price (MSP) in force this year, which is $6.50, as well as the MSP set for 2024, which is $6.85.

What will happen with the remaining 70%, Torres announced that the same will happen as in previous years, “they will continue to negotiate place and this, unfortunately, makes, first of all, small and medium-sized banana producers easy prey for illegal traders.”