Costa Rica’s Foreign Trade Corporation (Procomer) has revealed that the country’s banana exports fell by 11.6 per cent during the first half of 2008, due to a period of cool weather at the end of last year, coupled with drought conditions earlier this year.
Total volumes fell to 1.04m tonnes during the January to June period, said Procomer, compared with 1.18m tonnes in the year-earlier period, while export value reduced by 1.8 per cent to US$338m.
Although suppliers are expected to recoup important volumes during the second half of the year, Jorge Sauma of Corbana said year-end results are expected to fall just short of last year’s 2.05bn-tonne total, with exports pegged at around 2bn tonnes in 2008.
Costa Rica has experienced its fair share of weather-related problems in the last year, according to Mr Sauma.
In December 2007, a cold snap hit the country’s banana-producing region, impacting the ripening period and reducing crop volumes.
And, earlier this year, rainfall fell by 20-30 per cent compared with historic figures, causing drought conditions on banana plantations.
