U.S. banana imports steady

U.S. banana imports in 2020 totaled 4.14 million metric tons in 2020, off 2% from 2019 and the lowest volume in the past five years.

U.S. Department of Agriculture trade statistics reported that per metric ton value of U.S. imports of bananas in 2020 was $456.50 (20.7 cents per pound), nearly unchanged from $457.90 in 2019 (20.8 cents per pound).

The top 2020 supplier of bananas to the U.S. market was Guatemala, according to the USDA, supplying 1.876 million metric tons, down 3% from 2019.

Costa Rica was the second-biggest supplier of bananas to the U.S., according to the USDA, with 844,000 metric tons shipped to the U.S. in 2020, up about 6% from 2019.

Honduras supplied 479,000 metric tons to the U.S., down 5% compared with 2019.

U.S. imports of Ecuador bananas totaled 437,000 metric tons, down 6% from 2019.

Mexico supplied 265,000 metric tons of bananas to the U.S. market in 2020, down 20% from the previous year. Colombia increased its fresh banana shipments to the U.S. from 161,000 metric tons in 2019 to 198,000 metric tons in 2020, a gain of 23%.