Ecuador’s banana sector calls for higher prices to reflect new scenario

As annual contracts with retailers are renegotiated, Ecuador’s banana industry (represented by ACORBANEC, AEBE, AGR) has released a statement regarding prices. ReeferTrends reports that German retailer Aldi has announced it will increase its buying price for Ecuadorian bananas in 2020. While the Ecuadorian banana industry welcomes the move, it feels that this rise does not fully reflect the current situation. In 2020, there will be the introduction of a Bunker tax on shipping fuel that will increase costs for suppliers, while there is also the need to take measures to prevent the spread of the Foc R4Tdisease. The press release also highlighted the incongruence of German apples costing up to three times more in German discounters than Ecuadorian bananas shipped from another continent.