Costa Rica bananas in Middle East for the first time

Costa Rican producers are looking to diversify their markets and now are targeting the Middle East because of its huge potential. This region is already the fifth largest banana importing market in the world. Annual banana imports have almost tripled over the last decade, growing by around 16% a year between 2001 and 2007, from 257,000 tonnes to 737,000 tonnes.

According to Jorge Sauma, CEO of Corbana, "There has been impressive growth in the Middle East market to date, and banana consumption per capita in this region still remains well below the average in mature markets such as Europe and the US. This suggests significant potential for further growth in the Middle East market over the next decade."

While Costa Rica is the third largest banana-exporting country in the world, banana production uses less than 1% of the country´s territory. Costa Rica has had the world's highest yield per hectare in banana production for 19 years, reaching a new record for global exports worth $674.2m in 2008.

Costa Rica bananas are produced to the highest standards by methods that respect the environment and provide sustainable social conditions for banana workers. 99% of all Costa Rican banana plantations are GlobalGap certified, for good agricultural production practices, ISO 14001 certified for respecting the environment and SA 8000 certified for compliance with social, work place and human rights standards.

Via Corbana's support, Costa Rica is now looking to remain one step ahead of the industry by becoming the first carbon neutral banana producer by 2014. Corbana is also contributing to an international research partnership aimed at reducing the use of pesticides in banana farming by 50% in 10 years.

"We can offer a value-added product to the sophisticated Middle Eastern consumer by maintaining the high level of social, labour and environmental standards throughout the production process across our industry,"

says Jorge Sauma.

Jorge Sauma will be delivering a presentation on 'The Middle Eastern appetite for Costa Rica Bananas' at Eurofruit Congress Middle East, Shangri-La Hotel, Wednesday 11 at 09:30 am.