Exporters ask supermarkets in Europe and the US to assume the fair cost of bananas

Guilds of banana exporters of Latin America, participating in the 18 International Banana Convention 2021 in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil, asked the large supermarkets of USA and of Europe that they assume the fair cost of the fruit to achieve a competitive and sustainable trade.

Representatives of the banana sectors of Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica held a meeting this Wednesday in which they expressed their concern about the dominant position of the large European and American supermarkets in the negotiations on the price of the fruit. .

The price of the box bananas in consumer markets it varies according to country and region, although as an example it is known that in Europe a box of 18 kilos is priced at about US $ 12.5.

Supermarket chains calculate that this price could drop to US $ 11.25, which has set off alarms among Latin American producers who request an attitude of “shared responsibility”, since a reduction could seriously affect small and medium producers, the most vulnerable link in the industry.

Juan José Pons, president of the Ecuadorian banana cluster, demanded the regional unit to ensure adequate and beneficial productivity, competitiveness and sustainability conditions for the entire product value chain.

This challenge, he said, “poses enormous challenges for next year”, since it must be considered that production costs have increased, which affects the value to produce the fruit.

For this reason, Pons said that it is necessary to put into practice the concept of “shared co-responsibility”, so that part of these increases in production costs are assumed by consumers.

Only in this way will it be possible to provide the “best product offered to the world,” he added, after highlighting the quality of Latin American bananas.

However, he mentioned that the main impact of higher costs in the product’s value chain falls on small and medium-sized producers, who are the ones who contribute significantly to maintaining the best quality.

In addition, he recalled that Latin American bananas are an important product in the diet of Americans and Europeans, who asked to consume the fruit “with the same passion, but with shared responsibility” for the benefit of Latino workers and producers.

For his part, Emerson Aguirre Medina, director of the Colombian Banana Association, assured that the large consumer market “is not listening to us properly” to the approaches of “shared responsibility.”

This principle, he said, “goes from the product to the consumer” and therefore the position of large supermarkets does not consider the entire value chain or the most vulnerable.

The agreement signed in Guayaquil calls “the large supermarket and the final consumer to recognize the producer’s sacrifice to get a banana in the best possible conditions,” Aguirre Medina stressed.

Roberto García, president of the Association of Independent Banana Producers of Guatemala, also demanded a fair price for Latin American bananas.

“The commitment with our respectable clients is that here, in Latin America, we will continue to produce high-quality bananas,” in compliance with “all social and environmental regulations” required by consumers, he added.

He also mentioned that the global situation, of increasing logistics and production costs, requires shared solutions between producers and consumers.

“Let’s work hand in hand,” Garcia asked the consumer markets and asked them to allow Latin American producers “to continue providing them with a product of the highest quality” possible.