"This is a floor price, not a ceiling"

(Agraria.pe) In mid-September, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of Ecuador (MAGP) set the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for a box of export bananas at US$ 7.50. The increase is by 25 cents and will be in effect from January 1 to December 31, 2026. The measure was adopted after the Negotiation Tables—composed of representatives of producers and exporters—failed to reach a consensus to recommend a new value on two occasions. In this scenario, the MAGP set the amount based on the average national production cost plus a reasonable profit, for each of the different types of authorized boxes containing export bananas. Richard Salazar, executive director of the Association for the Marketing and Export of Bananas (ACORBANEC), explained that the price is based on technical criteria, such as the average national production cost plus a reasonable profit. “The costs sent by producers and exporters were analyzed, and based on that, the Ministry made its technical evaluation ...