Cumulative banana exports through February 2025 reached 66.32 million boxes, nearly 1% less than in 2024.
Ecuador accumulated a total of 66.32 million boxes of bananas exported through February 2025, representing a decrease of 481,000 boxes (-0.72%) compared to the same period in 2024.
Although the Ecuadorian banana sector had seen increased shipments to traditional countries like the United States and Russia since January, the loss of market share in Algeria this February translated into an overall decline for the sector.
Tensions in political relations between Ecuador and Algeria led to a drop in exports, with a reduction of 1.38 million boxes in January 2025.
Despite this loss, the Ecuadorian export sector still showed growth in that month. However, the continued suspension of licenses to export Ecuadorian fruit to Algeria worsened the situation in February 2025, reaching a cumulative reduction of 2.39 million boxes (-87.51%). This figure represents a significant impact.
significant that contributes to the overall decline of the sector.
In Asia, after several consecutive months of growth, a negative variation of 3.67% was reported for this month of February 2025. In this region, an increase was achieved only in China (+2.49%), while the rest of the countries Japan (-14.59%) and South Korea (-7.54%) reduced their imports of Ecuadorian fruit.
On the other hand, other markets have helped to soften the sector's decline. In the European Union, despite constant vessel delays and port congestion, growth of 1.41% was achieved.
Despite decreases in destinations such as Germany (-0.13%), Italy (-10.34%) and Spain (-19.20%), several destinations have remained positive, including the Netherlands (+4.87%) and France (+128.05%).
An additional 275,000 boxes were shipped to this region overall. An additional 2.08 million boxes and 2.26 million boxes were shipped to the United States (up 28.30%) and Russia (up 18.49%), respectively.
At the local level, although the weather conditions reported an improvement in temperatures with values exceeding 25 °C every week, these are still lower than those reported in the
same weeks of 2024.
Likewise, the increase in rainfall requires the maintenance of drainage and irrigation structures to avoid negative effects on production levels, which has been reported in some producing areas.
Consequently, the sheathing level is also lower this year compared to last; in February 2025, the weekly average was 40.46 sheaths/hectare compared to the 41.68 sheaths/hectare reported in February 2024.
At the company level, some companies managed to increase their export levels. Among them, Levexport (81.59%), Comersur (49.24%), and Tropicalfruit (24.29%) stand out; together, these companies shipped 1.12 million additional boxes compared to 2024 levels.
On the other hand, companies such as Noboa Trading (-30.22%) and Tuchok (-21.51%) experienced a decrease in their export levels.
