Banana supplies should be steady, and sales look favorable for the next several months, grower-shippers say.
“Fall is especially good for banana sales,” said Mayra Velazquez de León, president and CEO of San Diego-based Organics Unlimited Inc.
“Kids are back to school, and parents buy bananas to ensure that their kids have a healthy start to their day,” she said.
Banana business was fairly slow but steady through the summer, said Carlos Rodriguez, director of sales for Philadelphia-based Procacci Bros. Sales Corp.
Business picked up as students returned to school, and Rodriguez expected another sales boost soon.
An upward trend should start by mid-November, he said.
“Come December, we should see a spike again,” he added.
“Right now, supply is pretty good, and demand is decent,” he said in late September.
“Fall and winter are definitely the high season for banana purchases, since local stone fruit season in many parts of the U.S. ends in late summer,” said Angelica Hicks, banana category lead for Oke USA Fruit Co., which markets Equal Exchange Produce.
“We don’t anticipate any major changes in prices,” she said, adding, “There is no reason to believe that quality will not be good.”
There’s not really a banana season, said Jonathan Kitchens, fruit buyer for Earl’s Organic Produce, San Francisco. But the greatest production from Ecuador, which is one of two countries that supply the fruit for Earl’s Organic Produce, tends to be from September to March.
The weather is cooler and drier from June to December, and there is less pest and fungus pressure than at other times of the year.
Supplies should be consistent this fall and winter, when the popularity of bananas is particularly high, he said.
Summer fruit and berries sales taper off, and local deals wind down for retailers, allowing bananas to reclaim a top spot in produce sales, Kitchens said.
He said he did not anticipate any quality problems during the coming months.
Volume at Earl’s Organic Produce should be similar to or greater than last year, he said.
Bananas are the No. 1 unit driver in-store for produce, said Jamie Postell, Chiquita Brands director of sales, North America.
Consumers appreciate the energy boost and nutrients bananas offer, he said.
“Bananas have become a staple in every kitchen around the world for (their) versatility, taste, nutrients and ease of preparation and consumption.”
Velazquez de León said she’s concerned about a “significant threat to small grower viability” from the downward pressure on price as larger players enter the market of organic bananas.
“Organic production specifically requires stringent processes and significantly more labor to ensure that the fruit is thriving organically,” she said.
“It is our job to educate consumers on what is behind the higher cost of organic.”
