Ecuador will send a mission to Russia to lift suspensions on banana exporters

This was announced this Thursday in a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador after holding a meeting with the ambassador of Russia in Ecuador, Vladimir Sprinchan. of bananas due to the alleged presence of the humpback fly (megaselia scalaris) in some shipments.

This was announced this Thursday in a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador after holding a meeting with the Russian ambassador to Ecuador, Vladimir Sprinchan.

The Ecuadorian delegation will travel on Sunday made up of representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Trade and Agriculture, as well as members of the Phyto and Zoosanitary Regulation and Control Agency (Agrocalidad). In Moscow they will have the support of the Ecuadorian embassy in Russia.

The Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry emphasized that this situation dates back six months, “when that country, through communications, informed the Ecuadorian authorities about said phytosanitary problem of bananas.”

However, the request to suspend five of Ecuador’s banana companies that export this fruit to Russia came after it became known that the Ecuadorian Government is going to deliver Soviet military equipment to the United States, which in turn intends to send it to Ukraine. as reinforcement for the war against Russia.

The Minister of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries, Sonsoles García, also ruled out on Wednesday that the request to suspend exports to those five companies is a retaliation for the agreement with the United States, which in exchange will deliver valued new military equipment to Ecuador. at US$ 200 million.

“If there was real retaliation, the origin of the fruit would have been suspended, something that has not happened to date”said the minister to the Teleamazonas channel.

The head of the Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries portfolio explained that “What has happened with Russia comes from 2018, where the Russian phytosinatary agency (Rosseljoznadzor) made a first alert about the humpback fly to Agrocalidad.”

Since then “constant notifications have been made where Agrocalidad and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, in coordination with the Ministry of Production, have refuted any presumption of cholera through these humpback flies, because Ecuador has been a cholera-free country since 2014.”García stated regarding this insect that usually lives in organic waste.

Agrocalidad insisted after the request for suspension of the companies that the reports of this insect do not represent a health risk for Russia.

The list of companies whose exports have been vetoed by Russia are Agzulasa Cia, Don Carlos Fruit SA, Agroaereo Fruit Export SA, Agricultural Production Association of El Oro (Asoproagroro) and Comercializadora de Banano.

Ecuador is the world’s leading banana exporter, with more than 6.5 million tons in 2023, according to statistics from the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE).

Of that volume, Russia constitutes the second destination market for Ecuadorian banana exports with 1.37 million tons in 2023, equivalent to 22.85% of the total, only surpassed by the European Union (EU).

The turnover of banana exports amounted to US$3,255 million between January and November 2023, of which US$690 million were for shipments to Russia, which has Ecuador as practically its only external supplier of bananas, representing 98 % of its imports of this fruit.