The supply of bananas is strong right now. "In Central and South America, we've had a very, very strong growing season so supply is high," says Andy Thomas-Stivalet of Kadivac Produce. "Three to four weeks ago is when you really started seeing a lot of supply come online."
In turn, that greater supply started pressing pricing, a pattern often seen in the summer. "It looks like the supply will drop dramatically in the next two to three weeks. So instead of high supply lasting two to three months, it's going to last about a month to a month and a half," says Thomas-Stivalet.
This pattern is slightly unusual because the banana growing season was so conducive to the growth of banana stems. "I think what happened is we had a lot of growth in the stems already hanging and the plants just didn't give off new stems. So we're going to have low supply from now until the end of the year," says Thomas-Stivalet.
2024 vs. 2023
It's a different situation compared to 2023 which saw higher banana supply throughout most of the summer and right through into early November.
Meanwhile, demand is stronger for bananas. "We do notice that consumers are a little bit more strapped for cash. We've seen it in Mexico, the United States, and Canada. People are really at their limit and I don't think banana pricing will move too much from here on out. It seems like where if we even go up a few cents, people are going to stop consuming," says Thomas-Stivalet.
Looking ahead at the bigger picture on bananas, the category is starting to move towards some predicted change. "I think we'll see a big change in banana varieties by 2026 and beyond. That's when there will be viable new varieties that will come online," says Thomas-Stivalet, adding that those varieties will focus on flavor and texture developments as well as being resistant to Fusarium Tropical Race 4 (TR4) and other diseases affecting the banana world.
For more information:
Andy Thomas-Stivalet
Kadivac Produce
Tel: (+52) 962-625-3303
[email protected]
https://www.kavidac.com/