The impact of Hurricane Sandy, which hit the Caribbean and the US East coast in late October, has certainly be felt by Jamaica Producers (JP) Group, according to reports in the country.
JP managing director Jeffrey Hall told the Jamaica Gleaner that the group may lose five per cent of its annual revenues (J$350m, €2.95m) because of damage to its banana crop, with between 85-90 per cent destroyed by the storm.
'We think this loss is significant, but the damage to the crop is less than one per cent of our net worth,' explained Hall, who noted that the group had diversified its operations in recent years to limit the impact of such events, having been affected by similar storm systems in the past.
Hall added that it would take 'roughly six months' to reap replanted crop, and the group would import bananas chips from its Dominican Republic factory to make up any shortfall, although he emphasised that the company would not import fresh bananas.
