MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ecuadorian banana producers seek declaration of emergency

Ecuador used to send 1.8 million boxes of bananas per week to Russia and 180,000 boxes to Ukraine. Photo: Sebastián Astorga

Ecuadorian banana producers in the coastal provinces of Guayas, Los Rios, and El Oro, have staged road blockades demanding the government to step in and purchase the surplus resulting from Russia's military operation in Ukraine.

“We request that the President of the Republic, with the surpluses from oil prices, buy the banana bunches; one million bunches per week that will allow decongesting the fruit that is being repressed,” Segundo Lozano, a spokesman for banana producers in El Oro, told journalists.

In Puerto Inca, in the province of Guayas, hundreds of small and medium banana producers threw dozens of bunches on the road, according to TV and social media images. The producers are also calling for the creation of a contingency fund and the control of the official price of bananas.

Lozano pointed out that “the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is 800,000 boxes,” of exports which now have no destination markets.

”There are around 7 million boxes that are going to other markets in the world but they are paying us a miserable price (...) The conflict is between those countries,” Lozano said.

According to the banana growers, before the Russian operation in Ukraine, a box of bananas was sold for between US$ 3.50 and US$ 6, while now the price has gone down to between US$ 0.06 and US$ 1.30.

Vice Minister of Exports and Investments Lorena Konanz has said the Government was negotiating with China and South Korea to sell the product that cannot enter Russia or Ukraine.

The banana growers estimate that during the time of the Russian operation, about 1.15 million boxes have remained unshipped.

Before the Russian operation, Ecuador used to send 1.8 million boxes of bananas per week to Russia and 180,000 boxes to Ukraine.

(Source: Sputnik)