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Markets and Trade

Bananas

Commodity in focus

Bananas are among the most produced, traded and consumed fruits globally. More than 1 000 varieties of bananas exist in the world, and they each provide vital nutrients to populations in producing and importing countries alike. The most traded variety is the Cavendish banana, which accounts for just under half of global production and has an estimated annual production volume of 50 million tonnes. Bananas are particularly significant in some of the least-developed, low-income, food-deficit countries, where they can contribute not only to household food security as a staple but also to income generation as a cash crop.

World banana trade has recorded comparatively high levels of around 20 million tonnes per annum in recent years. Key drivers of trade include supply growth in both leading and emerging export countries, as well as ample global import demand. However, increasingly erratic and adverse weather conditions, rising costs of production, tight producer margins, and the spread of plant pests and diseases are causing severe concern to the industry.

Current releases
Banana Market Review - Preliminary results 2024
10/01/2025

The Banana Market Review Preliminary Results are issued on an annual basis to Members and Observers of the Sub-Group on Bananas of the Intergovernmental...

Banana Market Review 2023
26/08/2024

The Banana Market Review is issued on an annual basis to Members and Observers of the Sub-Group on Bananas of the Intergovernmental Group on Bananas...

More Publications
The changing role of multinational companies in the global banana trade
01/01/2014

Multinational trading companies, and in particular the three largest banana traders (Chiquita, Dole and del Monte), have historically played a major role in the international banana trade, exerting substantial market power in particular on the purchasing side. These vertically integrated multinational firms engage in production, purchase, transport, and marketing of bananas. They own fleet and ripening facilities, and have their own distribution networks in the importing countries, creating im portant economies of scale. The scope of their operations and their influence over the banana trade have, however, changed over time. The combined market share of the top three companies was at its highest in the 1980’s, when they controlled almost two thirds (65.3%) of global banana exports2, and the share has gradually declined since. In 2013, the market share of the top three companies was slightly over one third (36.6%) and the share of the top five companies was 44.4%, down from 70% in 2002. As a consequence, other companies now account for over half of all exports.

Banana market review and banana statistics 2012-2013
01/01/2014

This report is issued on an annual basis to Members and Observers of the Sub-Group on Bananas of the Intergovernmental Group on Bananas and Tropical Fruits. It is prepared by the Market and Policy Analyses of Raw Materials, Horticulture and Tropical (RAMHOT) Products Team, Trade and Market Division, FAO, Rome, and the tables contained bring together the information available to FAO, supplemented by data obtained from other sources in particular with regard to preliminary estimates.

 

 

Bananas are predominantly produced in Asia, Latin America and Africa. The largest producers for domestic consumption are India and China

 

Banana cultivar diversity comprises dessert types, like the Cavendish banana, and cooking types, like plantains. Some cultivars can have dual uses.

 

Harsh methods are often used to control irrigation and plant diseases in large-scale banana production, and such production methods can carry significant negative repercussions for the environment and the health and safety of workers and local communities.

 

A serious threat to the industry continues to be Fusarium Tropical Race 4 (TR4), a fungal disease affecting banana plants. It is currently confirmed in 21 banana-producing countries. In all reported cases, once a piece of farmland is contaminated with TR4, managing the disease is challenging and costly.

 The global banana value chain is increasingly characterized by the direct downstream activities of large retail chains from the key importing countries. These chains operate independent of traditional fruit companies by sourcing bananas directly from growers and distributors.   

 

 

On average, more than 90 percent of bananas for export originate from Central and South America and the Philippines. The largest importers are the EU, the United States of America, China, the Russian Federation, and Japan. 

 

Banana export earnings help to finance food import bills, supporting the economies of major banana-producing countries.

 

Research in ten banana producing countries found that income from banana farming can account for around three-quarters of the total monthly household income of smallholder farmers. 

 

The effects of global warming are resulting in a higher occurrence of droughts, floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters. These environmental concerns render banana production increasingly difficult, uncertain and costly, and threaten to disrupt global supplies and smallholder livelihoods.