Not a Banana Republic

Banana price war requires government intervention, says Fairtrade Foundation | Global development | The Guardian: "The Fairtrade Foundation is calling on the government to intervene in a banana price war in supermarkets that is putting pressure on suppliers and ,it claims, could lead to shortages.

The foundation, which aims to protect farmers in developing countries, says the price of bananas in UK supermarkets has nearly halved in the past 10 years to just 11p, while farmers at the same time have seen costs double.

The fall in the price of bananas, 5bn of which are eaten the UK every year, comes despite a rise in the price of other staple foods such as bread, eggs, milk and sugar, of 79% an average.

The policy director at the Fairtrade Foundation, Barbara Crowther, said: "If prices don't deliver long-term sustainability in the industry, that's not just bad for producers, it's bad for consumers because we could see much higher prices or shortages in the long term."

The foundation's chief executive, Michael Gidney, compared the price of a banana that has been shipped in from the Caribbean or Central America to the 20p paid for an apple grown in Britain."



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