MOSCOW: According to the statistics of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Trade (MIFIC), banana exports continue apace. Between January and October 2016 banana exports increased by 43.9 percent in volume and 39.2 percent in the perceived value. In those first ten months exporters sold 92,723 metric tons of bananas worth 32.5 million. In the same months of 2015 the country exported 64.417 metric tons worth 23.3 million dollars. The statistics include the exports made under the general scheme and those recorded in the preferential tariff free zone system, which represents the bulk of those sales.
Enrique Gasteazoro, coordinator of banana exporters of Nicaragua, said that 2016 was a good year for a sector that is recovering from the bad weather conditions and drought in 2014 and 2015. Even though there still is no official data end of the year regarding banana exports, Gasteazoro said they expected a ten percent increase in sales this year. “We believe that a ten percent increase will be good for this sector that is growing hand in hand with the investment we are doing,” he said.
Currently the country mainly exports its bananas, which are mostly planted in the departments of Chinandega and Leon, to the west of the country, to the United States, Canada, and several European countries. Gasteazoro said they were working to export ten million small boxes of bananas a year to supply large ships carrying bananas. “We are currently halfway there and we know that if we invest more we’ll be able to increase the cultivated area so that we can increase exports next year,” he said.
