A crop of global significance

Bananas are the world’s most widely produced and exported fruit, second only to citrus fruit in value terms and the fourth most important export crop after wheat, rice and maize. The banana industry is an important source of income, employment and export earnings in the major banana exporting countries, mainly developing countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and Africa that are responsible for around 98% of world production.

World banana exports, according to FAO estimates, are worth up to US$ 5 billion a year. But in volume terms all the world’s exports cannot compare with domestic banana production in India, which alone accounts for a quarter of global banana production yet does not even appear in the export statistics. There’s no doubting the crucial significance of bananas for food security in India and numerous other countries around the world.

Patterns of production and trade

The flavour of the banana is proving increasingly captivating to the temperate world. Worldwide banana exports increased in the 1985-2002 period at an unprecedented average annual rate of 5.3% in volume terms, twice that of the previous 24 years. Traditional markets such as the European Union, the USA and Japan still account for around 70% of world imports but the 1990s saw a growing taste for bananas developing among the Chinese, Russians and Eastern Europeans.

World exports of bananas are also highly concentrated on a few countries. Latin America and the Caribbean supplied over 80% of world exports in 2002, the four leading banana exporting countries (Ecuador, Costa Rica, the Philippines and Colombia) accounted for two thirds and Ecuador alone supplied over 30% of that total. For countries like Ecuador or Costa Rica bananas can account for around 10-20% of all exports in value terms. To some smaller countries, especially in the Caribbean, the banana is of even greater economic importance. On the Windward Islands, for example, bananas account for every second dollar Saint Lucia earns in exports.

The banana has innumerable fans who eat it any number of ways – from the famous banana split to banana chips, sweets, jams and breads. Or they simply peel one and enjoy it. 3.5 million tons of bananas disappear down US mouths each year, which is hardly surprising since 96% of Americans regularly buy bananas. But this fruit isn’t only popular with consumers. US grocery stores can make around 2% of their total profit on bananas. Looks like there’s no skin to slip on there.

Healthy for consumers and economically important for many countries – the banana seems to be bestowing its tropical bounty on a broad scale. Can there be any doubt that the banana is the perfect fruit, a tropical treasure that enriches our lives?