According to representatives of the sector, after last year's results, this year producing and marketing companies are betting on new markets and making more investments to achieve a high profitability.
Julio Merida, the executive director of the Association of Independent Banana Producers (APIB), said that the sector had registered a high productivity and that the upward variation of exports had been influenced by the depressed prices of coffee and sugar.
90% of what Guatemala produces goes to the United States, but the country is exploring new niches such as Russia, South Korea, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
Last year, banana production and exports experienced an exponential growth as sales abroad amounted to US $ 815 million, making it the second most exported product in the country and the leading agricultural export product.
Mario Yarzebski, the international marketing manager of the Palo Blanco firm, said that several Guatemalan and one Ecuadorian capital companies that are processing and providing added value to the fruit.
According to forecasts, banana and plantain production will increase this year and next year, due to external and internal demand.
Guatemala mainly produces the cavendish banana variety, which is resistant and maintains its quality when transported.
Yarzebski said that the results obtained last year were due to two aspects.
The first aspect is that part of the soil that was devoted to growing sugar cane is now used to grow bananas and African palm, which are more profitable. The change in plantations also coincided with the low price of sugar on a global scale. The other aspect is that the sowing of the fruit is very versatile, which achieved more production in the market.
This phenomenon, he said, was marked in the South Coast, where there were new small and medium producers of the fruit.
Yarzebski said that banana and plantain producers marketed their products through major firms to the United States, but that there were markets arising in Europe.
Daniel Ambrosio, a producer from Tiquisate, Escuintla, said that some companies that operated in Honduras had moved to Guatemala and increased the area of cultivation.
"The issue of trade unions in Honduras forced some firms to move to the country, as a result the fields are currently being prepared to start cultivation," he said.
The producer said that the price paid for producers of a 42-pound box of bananas ranged between US $ 5 and US $ 7.
