Ecuadorian banana corporation Agroban hopes a five week trial will act as a launch pad into the Chinese market, according to media reports.
The trial began this week, with Agroban set to shipfive containers of fresh bananas a week to a Chinese state-owned company until the end of December.
Agroban representative Gustavo Marun told the Ecuador Times the corporationhopes to reach an agreement to send 30 containers of bananas per week to the Asian nation.
Marun said dealing with a state-owned company enabled Agrobanproducers to access the Chinese market directly, without going through intermediaries. This model is already being used by some small producer associations such as Cerro Azul and El Guabo
Agroban has42 members located in different producing areas of the Guayas and Los Rios provinces, with a total area of 5857ha under banana plantation.
Mariella Molina, Consul General of Ecuador in China, told Asiafruit the move is in line with Ecuador’s bid to ramp up banana exports to China.
“Ecuador is the largest banana exporter in the world by volume,” Molina said.
“Therefore it’s important we have a presence in the largest country in the world by population. At the moment we have an 8 per cent market share in China and we are looking at ways to increase this share.”
