Sopisco News is the leading source of reliable premium news, no other newsletter covers the banana market like Sopisco News the information leader in the banana shipping and cool logistics industries. Complete information is available only to our subscribers. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS AND ADVERTISEMENT PLEASE CONTACT admin@novamedia.ws or info@sopisconews.online

The situation in and around the Red Sea / Gulf of Aden remains volatile. Our priority remains the safety of our seafarers, vessels, and your cargo. With this in mind, we are making changes to our ME2 service, as outlined below. These changes will have the benefit of offering you greater predictability and reliability for your supply chain in this challenging environment.

Hapag-Lloyd AG (Hapag-Lloyd) and Maersk A/S, an entity under A.P. Moller-Maersk (Maersk), have signed an agreement for a new long-term operational collaboration called "Gemini Cooperation", which will start in February 2025. "Teaming up with Maersk will help us to further boost the quality we deliver to our customers. Additionally, we will benefit from efficiency gains in our operations and joint efforts to further accelerate the decarbonisation of our industry," says Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd.

Banana selling prices in St Petersburg according to brand, quality, volume, and packing were USD 24.55-25.70 per box CIF. Nearly 954.000 boxes were discharged in week 3, and around 1.73 million boxes are expected for week 4. The exchange rate was 1 USD=88.59 RUB. The yearly inflation was 7.4 %, according to official data. Prices in the Mediterranean were USD 16.00-18.00 per box CIF for the Ecuadorian bananas according to volume, region, packing and quality. They were considerably higher in Libya, around USD 20.00-21.00 per box CIF for the Ecuadorian fruit and around USD 18.00-19.00 per box CIF for Central American or Colombian bananas. Due to the large quantity of licenses issued by the government to traders in Algeria, the market was oversupplied, and importers incurred losses of USD 2.00-3.00 per box.

Cool Carriers' Ivar Reefer vessel kicked off the Cool Carriers' Chilean grape season on the U.S. West Coast on December 31. Departing from the Port of Coquimbo on January 3, the Ivar Reefer fruit arrived at the Port of Los Angeles this week, carrying more than 5,300 pallets of grapes and stone fruit. The Port is currently the only U.S. West Coast port receiving specialised refrigerated cargo ships that have palletised fruit from this South American agricultural hub.

A representation of European Banana and Plátano de Canarias, Martinique, Guadeloupe and Madeira recently met to analyse the economic crisis 2023. Producers from the three E.U. countries agreed that the leading causes of their situation are "the increase in production costs, up to 30% in many cases in just two years; climate change; the unequal E.U. regulations in social, environmental and food safety conditions, which increasingly favour the production of third countries, and the use of imported bananas as a distribution brand as opposed to the application of much higher margins to European production".

The Minister of Agriculture of the Dominican Republic, Limber Cruz, delivered approximately eight (8) million pesos to several members of the Association of Pineapple Producers of Cevicos, Sánchez Ramírez province, who suffered losses with the past rains in November. Pedro Suárez, from the Association of Pineapple Producers, thanked President Luis Abinader and Minister Limber Cruz for the quick support provided to the sector and said that they will immediately return to production to guarantee exports and local consumption.

Philippine banana exports are estimated to have declined in 2023 partly due to pests and the spread of fruit-related disease, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said. Based on the FAO's latest banana market review, the Philippines exported 2.20 million metric tons (M.T.) of bananas as of the first nine months last year, a decrease of 3.0 per cent from the 2.27 million M.T. delivered in 2022.

The President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, sent a bill to the National Assembly proposing an increase in the Value Added Tax (VAT) by three percentage points. He has called it an organic law to confront the internal armed conflict and the social and economic crisis and calls for an increase in VAT from 12 to 15 per cent.

Cambodia exported approximately 290,000 tonnes of fresh bananas in 2023, marking a decline of over 21% year-on-year, as the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reported. Hun Lak, CEO of Longmate Agriculture Co Ltd, explained that the drop in exports in 2023 was not due to reduced market demand but somewhat attributable to climate change, noting that his company's banana exports to China had diminished due to lower yields harvested in 2023 compared to the year prior.

India is making significant strides in developing efficient sea routes to export fresh fruits, particularly bananas, with an ambitious goal of reaching one billion dollars in exports to Europe. This stark contrast highlights the importance of strategic planning and infrastructure development in maximizing the potential of agricultural exports. The Asian nation is actively investing in the development of sea routes and logistics to boost its fresh produce exports, particularly focusing on bananas.

The Department of Agriculture is seeking preferential tariff rate for Philippine banana exports to Japan. Manila looks to review the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement as an initial opportunity to discuss the Philippine appeal. The agency has scheduled the first meeting of the Philippines-Japan Joint Committee on Agriculture in the second quarter of this year.

The government of Belize hopes to revive the once-vibrant banana industries. According to the Statistical Institute of Belize, production has declined in recent years. However, in November last year, earnings from bananas were valued at $5.6 million, a rise from $4.6 million in 2022. The industry has historically been a significant foreign income earner for the country, but exports of bananas and citrus have sharply declined. Minister of Agriculture Jose Mai says that while work is being done to tackle the industries' challenges, it will take some time for them to rebound.

“Every district in Kerala has its favourite banana,” said Nishanth K, a 49-year-old banana farmer, from Kerala’s Wayanad district, who has over 250 varieties of bananas on his farm. “Wayanad and Kannur like mannan (a type of banana). Chenkadali (red banana of Cavendish variety) is very popular and culturally significant in Thiruvananthapuram and is sold there for a handsome Rs 80 a bunch, whereas in Wayanad, it fetches only one-fourth the price.

In order to provide a direct outlet to the producers of the Tembiaporã district, the department of Caaguazú, the head of the Ministry of Public Works and Communications, Claudia Centurión, announced the asphalt paving of 40 kilometres within the framework of the realization of the Banana Route, a long-awaited work.