The banana producers' and exporters' associations of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, and the Dominican Republic issued a statement on Monday rejecting the actions of German retailer Kaufland, which has resumed offering a kilo of bananas of Latin American origin at 0.88 euros to consumers; a harmful practice that puts the sustainability of the banana sector at risk.
"These practices continue to obscure the reality of banana production in the region, which is increasingly constrained by the destination markets' certification and regulation requirements. These requirements impose high costs on producers, while supermarkets and discount stores misrepresent the genuine efforts of sustainable production and adherence to inconsistent standards," the unions stated in their announcement published on the Banana Cluster of Ecuador's X account.
"European supermarkets and discount stores continue to have an empty discourse focused on sustainability. Their actions and measures continue to demonstrate their lack of coherence or real commitment to sustainability. It just proves that for them, the search for sustainability is nothing more than a vain market strategy to distract consumers," they stressed.
For more information:
Ecuadorian Banana Cluster