Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa is reportedly considering a plan to nationalise the country’s banana trade in an effort to ensure prices set by the government are respected by exporters, according to news agency AFP.
“If we have to nationalise banana exports in order to make companies respect the price, we will do it because we have had enough of this shameful practice,” President Correa said.
However, the Association of Ecuadorean Banana Exporters (AEBE) is apparently opposed to the idea, although its president Eduardo Ledesma admits US banana multinationals have been dictating the price per box since the 1970s, AFP reported.
“We need to enforce standards `and` the official price should be paid through the central bank,” AEBE explained.
US giants Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte control 65 per cent of Ecuador’s banana trade, according to AFP.
Fyffes and Noboa (or Bananera Continental Banacont, which is owned by the family of former Ecuadorean presidential candidate Alvaro Noboa) control another 8 per cent and 11 per cent respectively.
Last month, the Ecuadorean government issued a law to set a fixed price for each box of bananas exported from the country at US$5.50 per (41lb) box.
However, 15 out of 140 exporters, including Bananera Continental Banacont, have allegedly been under investigation for possible violations of the new ruling, the AFP report said.
