How it Work 

Bananas are among the most traded fruits in the world. In 2017 alone, 22.7 million tonnes of bananas, excluding plantains, were traded, representing almost 20% of global production that year. The value of this trade was worth USD 11 billion, which is higher than the export value of any other exported fruit. While Asia is the largest banana-producing region, Latin America and the Caribbean is the largest exporting region, responsible for approximately 80% of global exports. The retail value of the sector was estimated to be worth between USD 20 billion and 25 billion in 2016, providing livelihoods to millions of smallholder farmers and plantation workers around the world. In Africa alone, bananas are a source of income and jobs for more than 70 million people. Looking at production and trade figures at a country level, the largest producing and exporting countries in 2017 were spread out across geographic regions, with Ecuador at USD 3 billion, Costa Rica at USD 1.1 billion, and the Philippines at USD 1 billion. Meanwhile, the largest importing countries that year were the United States (USD 2.5 billion), Belgium (USD 1.4 billion), and Russia (USD 1.1 billion). Despite these high figures, it is worth noting that the banana trade balance (export–import) overall has fluctuated significantly during the 2015–2018 period, registering oversupply in some years and shortages in others, normally in the range of 1 million to 2 million tonnes in either direction. This fluctuation is due largely to the seasonality in banana demand and climate related production challenges, such as severe floods, cooler temperatures, and mudslides.