Sky East

Poland is one of the largest exporters of bananas in the European Union. According to figures from Eurostat, almost 60,000 tonnes of bananas were exported by the top banana companies in Poland in 2017 making it the eighth biggest EU exporter. Domestic companies import bananas from Central and South America, mainly from Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala and Costa Rica. After spending time in special ripening (high temperature) chambers they enter the Polish groceries market or are exported. Banana Company Germany , Great Britain, France, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary and the Netherlands are the export destinations for about 10 % of the bananas. Another 40% of bananas are bought by local companies from European importers, the rest come from overseas. Poland is therefore becoming an increasingly important player on the banana market in Europe. The main player on the Polish market is the Quiza Company from Gdynia with ca. 60 tons of imported bananas each year. The leaders in Europe...

 Bananas are one of the most important staples in tropical areas and their production for sale in local markets is, together with dairying and horticulture, one of the few activities that provide households with regular income throughout the year. Most bananas are planted for sale in local markets or self-consumption, and only a fraction of all bananas produced are sold in the world market. The production technologies of Banana Export Company Rotterdam used for export and self-consumption are so different that analysts prefer to separate them into two distinct economic activities. On the one hand, small-scale production for consumption in the household or for sale in local markets makes a limited use of external inputs and is labor intensive. Production costs are low and comparable to other major staples such as sweet potato, rice, maize and yam. On the other hand, production for export markets uses external inputs intensively and is technologically sophisticated. Even within ba...