Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa is threatening to nationalise banana exports and imprison those exporters that do not respect the official banana price.
The president described the international banana market as depressed due to the harsh Russian winter and Libyan uprising. “Exporters are not buying bananas and so producers have a serious problem on their hands,” said Correa, calling for respect for the official price for the fruit which should be sold under contract only via official banking channels.
The president said that smaller producers have told him that there are exporters that do not want to sign contracts. “Fine, if they don’t want to sign, then we cannot make them sign, but then I don’t want to hear of a single bunch transported if it is not under contract,” warned Correa.
He has instructed minister of agriculture Miguel Carvajal to investigate and root out abuses in the system to close down those exporters that are caught and “imprison the crooks…Unless action is taken, this disgraceful behaviour will carry on.”
He added that he was on the side of growers and small producers. “If we have to nationalise exports, we will,” warned Correa.
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