Costa Rican banana production grew by approximately 1m boxes during 2010 compared with the year before, and indications point to a similar increase being achieved during 2012.
At a press conference this week, Eduardo Sauma, president of Costa Rica’s National Banana Corporation, Corbana, said that exports during 2011 had reached 102m boxes, which had generated around US$700m.
The sector’s aim for 2012, he said, was to increase exports by a further 1 per cent to 103m boxes, partly by developing new export markets.
Currently, the US and European Union receive an estimated 90 per cent of Costa Rican banana exports, and Sauma said the sector hoped to expand into markets such as the Middle east, Russia, Japan and Canada during 2012.
