Last week, it was announced by various media that Iran had banned imports of Philippine bananas, as well as a number of other items, including French apples, Chinese pears and Egyptian oranges.
However, there have since been rumours that the ban is in fact far more broad.
“The import ban is on all agricultural produce,” one industry source told Fruitnet.com. “However, people are mostly talking about bananas because the majority of the produce imported into Iran at the moment is bananas.”
According to the same source, approximately 15-20 per cent of Philippine banana volumes go to Iran. With the ban in effect, he warned, most of the fruit would be diverted to other countries in the region, leading to massive oversupply in the coming weeks and causing prices to drop drastically.
“We are already seeing an effect in the Philippines, as suppliers are lowering their selling prices to cope with the oversupply,” he said. “We don't know how long this ban is going to continue, but if the situation stays as it is, it will significantly affect other economies.”
Another industry source told a different story. “There is no ban on imports of bananas into Iran,” he proclaimed. “The government is accepting applications for bananaimport permits. However, they have not issued any new permits yet. This could happen at any time.”
Regardless of the precise details, the consequences clearly remain the same. “The effect is quite predictable,” he added. “A crash in the Philippines banana market will lead to a crash inall othermarkets that sell the fruit. Prices in Iran have also shot up due to shortages. In short, everyone has lost out.”
It has been suggested that the Philippines will lose approximately US$170m (€122m) annually if the ban continues, with some 64,000 workers in the country losing their jobs.
