Peru banana export box

Peru will export 138,000 tonnes of bananas worth US$91.6m in 2012, according to estimates from Maximixe published by Agraria.pe.

Such figures would mark a 30 per cent jump in the value of the South American country's annual banana exports.

The consultancy believes increased demand from the US and Europe will maintain a price of US$664 a tonne, up 2.1 per cent on the previous year.

Looking further ahead, Maximixe forecasts banana shipments to increase another 24.8 per cent in 2013, up to a total value of US$114.3m.

In the first half of 2012, organic banana and plantain shipments rose 21.5 per cent on the same period of 2011, hitting 60,200 tonnes at a value of US$41.2m.

The rise was driven by increased purchases from Belgium (+54 per cent), the Netherlands (+22 per cent) and the US (+16 per cent).