britain
’s
bruisin g banana wars Why ch threat eap bananas
Policy en farmers’ report future s A Fairtrade Foundation Report
February 2014

When I sell a box of bananas it’s a product with quality, with incredible taste, so it should be fair that you pay a fair price for it.
Horatio Hernandez
Coobafrio Co-operative,
Magdalena, Colombia
January 2014

contents

1 Introduction

4

2

6

Executive Summary

Britain’s Bruising Banana Wars

16
16
20
21

4 The banana value chain
4.1 The UK banana market
4.2 
The retail price of bananas in Britain
4.3 UK banana imports 2002 – 2013
4.4 
Changes in banana supply chain operations 4.5 
The impact of supermarket price wars on producers
4.6 
Producer prices vs costs of sustainable production

22
22
23

5 
The market environment for bananas
5.1 
Evolution of the global banana trade
5.2 
Consolidation of retailer power and UK price wars
5.3 
The impact of competition law on banana prices

38

6 Fairtrade’s alternative approach
6.1 
General background to the Fairtrade system
6.2 
Fairtrade bananas – scope and scale
6.3  airtrade: the benefits and
F
constraints for farmers and workers

2

3 About this report
3.1 Fairtrade’s involvement in bananas
3.2 Research objectives and approach
3.3 Methodological note

7 
Achieving a sustainable banana industry
7.1  inclusive market
An
for smallholders
7.2 
Thriving banana farming communities 7.3 Decent work
7.4 Living wages
7.5 Workers’ rights to unionise
7.6 Taking full account of externalities
7.7 A new approach to pricing

56

8 
Conclusions and recommendations 66

9 Appendices
9.1 Appendix 1 Methodological note
9.2 
Appendix 2 Description of banana production and