Banana in the world market in the 2nd week of July

 The EU market has remained fairly satisfactory. The seasonal slowing of demand seems to have been less marked than usual so far in northern Europe. Competition from the season's fruits has been timid (they are still expensive) and cool weather has favoured banana consumption. Prices have therefore remained stable and even firm in Germany, Benelux and the United Kingdom in spite of slightly larger than average supply of dollar bananas. Deliveries from Costa Rica are a little light but Colombia is still strongly present on the market, as is Ecuador, with shipments still going preferentially to the EU at the expense of the USA. The situation is fairly favourable in France where the slowing of demand is just as moderate as in northern Europe and where supply is still small as a result of an increasingly marked deficit in shipments from the West Indies and a decrease in the quantities from Africa. In this context, both official and real prices have remained stable on most markets. No stocks are available at the moment.