The Ecuadorian authorities are cracking down on those who break its banana laws with hefty fines.
The farm ministry said this week that exporter Gropagro has been sanctioned for failing to pay the official price of $5.50 for 33,501 boxes of bananas. The company now has to pay $184,255 for the fruit as well as a fine of $4.6 million.
Separately, exporter Sedordinsa was penalised for failing to pay a grower for 204 boxes of fruit. The official price per box of $5.50 was multiplied by 204 and a fine of some $28,050 imposed leaving the company 72 hours to pay a total of $29,172.
