Bananas recover but market is cruel

While on the subject of bananas, there is good news and bad news to report from this major export industry. The good news is that following the devastation caused by Hurricane Iris last October, banana production is nearly back to pre-storm levels. According to the Banana Growers Association’s Zaid Flores, shipments, which were halted on October eighth, resumed in April, and growers used the opportunity to improve their planning for future production. Which brings us to the bad news. Much of that rapidly restored production will go to waste as Fyffes, the Irish company which purchases all of Belize’s bananas and holds a license for preferential entry to the European market, has reduced Belize’s third quarter quota by four hundred thousand boxes. This means that nearly three million U.S. dollars worth of fruit will have to be ploughed under by the B.G.A., as there are no alternative markets that can pay to justify even the harvesting and shipping. Despite this latest setback, Flores told News 5 that he believes with fair access to European markets Belize’s banana industry can be viable and prosperous. Production for 2002 is expected to come in at around two point three million boxes, well short of pre-hurricane highs of over three point five million. In the year 2000 banana exports yielded sixty-three point eight million dollars.