Banana production in Ecuador has declined significantly because of climate change, but this is not the only obstacle that small producers and exporters have to face every day to market their fruit. Walter Manina, from Ecuador's Banana Company (CBE), spoke about the sector's current situation: "The transnationals are making the business very difficult for small and medium exporters. Companies such as Chiquita offer extra payments so producers sell to them so that they can cover most of the market. They are trying to have and cover much of the demand, leaving little space for the small exporters."
This is increasingly happening because of the lack of fruit, as the transnational companies are starting to look for more fruit in Ecuador, because countries like Costa Rica have a decline in production. "Producers who don't work with these large companies are having a difficult situation because they fail to market their fruit. Additionally, the exporters need to make an advance payment to the Ministry as collateral for the producer, so we have less cash flow and can not invest as we would like to,"said Manina.
We need to overcome obstacles
"Costs are higher, customs taxes and the increase in the right to export are heavily damaging the business and complicating the process of international trade. Unfortunately, many times, importers are not aware of this process and its complications; all of these obstacles only affect producers and exporters like us. Many times we have to limit our destinations and lose business opportunities that could be very valuable for exporters and producers," said the representative.
"In our case, as a company, our goal is to enter more strongly to Europe, specially to France, where we believe the organic production would be one of the best options. We just need to overcome the obstacles of the government and the transnationals, and have the support of investors willing to understand and support us throughout the whole process. Fortunately, forecasts are that the production will recover starting week 33, so we can start offering our bananas to these markets," concluded the spokesman.
