Australia: Banana supplies back to normal

Supplies of North Queensland bananas have returned to normal after weeks of havoc caused by widespread rain and flooding in the tropics. "The industry is very appreciative of the support it has received from consumers during the interruption in banana supplies," said Australian Banana Growers Council president Nicky Singh.

"We expect that banana prices at retail outlets will quickly reflect the increase in available supply as packing sheds and transport operations return to normal,” he told farmonline. "There may be some dullness of the skin due to the weather conditions, but eating quality of the fruit remains excellent."

Singh said that from a logistical perspective, it was a credit to the banana industry's supply-chain partners that they were able to get fruit to market so quickly in what were still very difficult circumstances after the Bruce Highway re-opened.

"Supply from north Queensland was cut to 23,000 cartons during the first week in February but jumped up to 550,000 cartons last week," he said. "The rain caused an average of about 20pc losses in northern plantations due to flooding, water-logging and weather damage, but this will not cause any interruption to future supplies unless there are further weather complications."


Source: foodweek.com.au

Publication date: 2/23/2009