Afruibana, a group of associations of producers and exporters of fruit from Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon and Ghana, has published an open letter protesting the 9 per cent drop in banana prices demanded by retailers.
The group declared itself in solidarity with the Association of Canary Islands Banana Producer Organisations (Asprocan), which this week denounced the EU’s inaction in the face of a new warning of 'excess' banana imports from third countries.
Afruibana drew attention to the “continued deterioration of the purchasing conditions for our fruits”, according to a report from CommodAfrica.
On 12 October, Reefer Trends reported that the German discounter was said to be insisting on an FOT price for 2019 that would force producers in supplier nations to break legal minimum reference values.
In response, 32 Ecuadorean industry associations and producer organisations, including AEBE, Acorbanec and Agroban, released a letter opposing Aldi’s plans and accusing European retailers of undermining efforts to improve the lives of workers and protect the environment by continuously driving down prices.
“By demanding an additional drop of nearly 9 per cent in the purchasing price of a carton of bananas for 2019, with a drop in the purchasing price of pineapples that could follow, large retailers are showing their misunderstanding of fruit value chains that is all too common in the sector, and testifies to a form of indifference to the socio-economic stakes of the world's fruit territories,' the open letter from Afruibana read.
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