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Ecuador lost more than 18 million dollars in foreign currency after not being able to export bananas to Russia and Ukraine during the war

The war conflict has generated a series of economic sanctions against Russia, which causes delays in payments.

More than 2.33 million boxes of bananas have not been exported to Russia and Ukraine since the conflict was declared on February 24, thus affecting a quarter of exports of this non-oil product; a situation that seriously affects the entire fruit production and export chain.


Faced with the serious problem, producers and exporters are working together on measures to mitigate the damage to the industry and the country. Representatives of the banana cluster hold conversations with the Prefectures of Guayas, Los Ríos and El Oro, as well as with other institutions so that the food programs are ready to receive the fruit that cannot be exported to the countries in conflict. Likewise, non-exported bananas would serve as an ideal fertilizer for agricultural land due to their high potassium content.


In a public statement from the banana cluster, of which AEBE and ACORBANEC are members, consumers, supermarkets, international importers and all those who make up the chain were urged to do the following: “to act accordingly, aware of the impact caused for the different externalities and costs that cannot be assumed only by the producers and exporters, but must be shared by all the members of the banana chain, for which we demand the fulfillment of this shared responsibility, paying the fair price for the fruit, since if they don’t, the sustainability of Ecuadorian bananas will be threatened,” the statement said.


The war conflict has generated a series of economic sanctions against Russia, which causes delays in payments, reduction of purchase and/or cancellation of contracts with banana exporters by Russian importers; as well as the logistical problems due to the decision of several shipping companies not to transport the fruit
to Russia, due to the high congestion of containers in the different European ports, where transshipments are made to St. Petersburg.


Another affected product is shrimp, which progressively stopped being exported to Russia and Ukraine, generating losses of more than USD 10 million in foreign currency, after not exporting around 4 million pounds of shrimp since it was declared in conflict.

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