Let’s not hold back with the superlatives; never has the EU-28 consumed as much bananas, either in a month of March or over a twelve-month period!
Europeans guzzled down 559 000 tonnes in March 2016, i.e. 4 % more than in March 2015. All the source groups contributed to this growth (European production, ACP and MFNs). Closer up, on an individual basis, the picture is of course different. Regarding the ACPs, the Dominican Republic was down over one month, but more significantly Surinam and Belize confirmed a big decrease. At the same time, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon continued their rise. Regarding the dollar banana, Ecuador picked up a bit. Yet most significantly, Costa Rica had a record March, following on from an already exceptional February. Peru also finished the month with a very fine performance. We can note the hesitant comeback by Brazil. A special mention can go to Guatemala, which exceeded 25 000 t over three months. Although this giant on the US market is a dwarf on the European market, it has seen a spectacular rise, with its presence increasing twelvefold between 2014 and 2016! Consumption in Q1 2016 exceeded for the first time the symbolic one-and-a-half-million tonnes mark, reaching 1 542 000 t. Compared to the same period of 2015, consumption increased by 4.3 %. Besides the tumbling levels from Surinam and Belize, and the considerable fall from Ecuador or Panama, all the other sources rose on the European market. Over twelve months, net consumption set a new record, reaching 5 878 000 t. This was 420 000 t more than over the twelve preceding months (April 2013 - March 2014).
The trend was the same in the United States. Consumption in Q1 rose by 3 % to exceed the one million-tonne mark (as in 2015). Honduras, Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala were down, while Ecuador and Costa Rica continued their steep rise.
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