Bananas from the Windward Islands are set to return to UK supermarket shelves in June after production was devastated last October.
Hurricane Tomas wiped out production in St Vincent and St Lucia and reduced output in Dominica to 50 per cent last year.
The first shipment of the newly planted bananas are expected to be available in UK supermarkets in very limited numbers by early June. It is anticipated that volumes will continue to grow weekly thereafter, reaching pre-hurricane shipment volumes by early 2012.
Roy Hugh, sales and marketing director at Winfresh (UK), told FPJ: “The farmers of the Windward Islands have been working very hard to recover from the total devastation of their banana farms following Hurricane Tomas, and the immense challenges of restoring the infrastructure, clearing fields and replanting. The scale of work involved has varied from farm to farm, and Island to Island, and therefore production forecasts remain provisional at this time.
“Obviously it has been very tough for the growers in the past months, but they are resistant and keen to respond to the continued support of the UK retailers and British public who continue to demand their bananas.”
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