Banana: African origin at the top of the European market

In the first half of 2021, African bananas saw a 7.1% increase in their presence in the European market, reaching 309,000 tonnes. This surge was largely due to a decrease in the supply of dollar zone bananas, with exports to the European market dropping by 84,000 tonnes. The dominant countries for dollar zone bananas, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, were the only ones to improve their position in the European market, with other origins shifting to the North American market due to a supply shortage from Guatemala and Honduras caused by cyclones in late 2020. Despite this shift, the European market experienced a slight decline, down 1.8% to 3.469 million tonnes, but still surpassed the supply of the first half of 2019. European production remained relatively stable, showing a minimal increase of 0.3%, while Guadeloupe saw a significant growth in banana production by 21.8%, reaching 28,000 tonnes.