Banana sector fears minimal growth for this year

For the first quarter of 2019, Ecuador's banana exports recorded a volume growth of only 2.49%. A result well behind the 5.73% and 4.87% recorded in 2017 and 2018.

 

 

 

In Ecuador, the banana sector is forecasting weak growth in volumes export for 2019. In Q1 this volume increased by only 2.49% compared to the same period of 2018. This represents a volume of 95.2 million bananas boxes, up from 93.3 million last year.

 

 

 

In the first quarter of the last two years, sales had recorded better performances with + 5.73% in 2017 and + 4.87% in 2018. If the observed trend continues, volume growth for the year could just reach 1.2% while in 2018 the increase was 6%.

 

 

 

Several factors can explain this underperformance: unfavorable weather conditions in certain production areas, exacerbated competition on the international market, a decrease in the demands on the South American markets (-6.79%) and the EU (-15.46%) which was not offset by growth in other markets (Asia, Russia, Middle East, United States).