HomeBlogNationalEcuadorian banana registers, until April, a 4.1% drop in its exports

Ecuadorian banana registers, until April, a 4.1% drop in its exports

  • May 31, 2021
  • Posted by: medium
  • Category: National
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March is the month that the most lowered fruit. Climate and logistic factors are among the main causes.

Ecuador completed its third consecutive month in this 2021 of negative figures in the export of bananas when lowering the4,8%. This, when sending32.5 million boxescompared to34.2 million boxeswhich exported in April 2020, according to figures from theEcuadorian Association of Banana Exporters (AEBE).

Adding April with January (0.9%), February (-4.7%) and March (-7.9%), the downturn in bananas exports reaches an average of4,1%, that is to say,5.8 million boxes lessthat in the same period of 2020, according to the guild. In the first quarter, the reduction had already been 2.14%.

As for the destinations, the greatest reductions were presented in markets such as Asia (-34%) and the Middle East (-28%), where the placement of Ecuadorian fruit still continues.

However, the main destinations of Ecuadorian fruit also showed decreases, such as Europe (-2%) and Russia (-3%).

However, the Southern Cone registered a growth in its demand from 7% to April. This increase was also reflected in the US market, with 15%.

José Antonio Hidalgo, Executive Director of AEBE,He indicated that one of the main reduction factors in exports was the climatic, due to the low temperatures recorded in 2020 while the return of the harvest of 2021 grew.

To this are added the heavy rains in the first months of the year and the fall of ashes in certain areas, which increased the decrease in the processes.

Another factors was low productivity, said the leader, due to the lack of investment in certain plantations for work control and completing the fertilizations cycle.

"To all these challenges are added the logistics. Today we live a year with a shortage of containers, and the construction does not occur sufficiently rapidly to relieve it, so the lack of high spaces and freight will be a great inconvenience until 2022 for our entire value chain," said Hidalgo, who warned that this logistics factor is worrying and could affect for weeks later.