Agroban starts up exports to Asia

Also present at the 5th International Banana Congress was  Manuel Romero, Executive Director of Agroban, the Ecuadorian banana farmers’ association, uniting 52 producers with a total crop area of 8000 ha in Ecuador. “Nowadays the price fails to reflect the banana’s true value and the profit margin is very low”, stated the Agroban CEO in his speech to the 5th International Banana Congress in Costa Rica. This is why the cooperative is interested in going straight into negotiations with supermarkets and providing better returns for its partners.  Although Agroban maintains annual contracts with export companies to ship its fruit to the European and United States markets, the sights are set on Asia for growth through direct sales to retail, cutting out the middleman. Negotiations to open up their provisional exports to China began last year and the first export sale was secured in December 2013. “We have managed to reach China with a good product, great quality and still green, in excellent condition. Our fruit has a long hanger life and is very resistant, despite the transit time we have”, concludes Romero.
MV