Banana production areas on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica have suffered following heavy rainfall and flooding on Sunday and Monday this week.

Water levels are up to 3.5 metres in some parts and 25 bridges as well as 52 stretches of road - some so new they had yet to opened - have been washed away.

Abel Pacheco, president of the Central American nation visited the hardest hit areas and declared a national state of emergency. Sixaola has seen the worst flooding and some banana and pineapple plantations have practically disappeared.

National banana corporation Corbana said the situation in Sixaola is worse than the emergency of 1970. Hundreds of thousands of boxes of pineapples have also been lost to the floods, which were so severe that workers sought refuge on banana packhouse roofs.

Fyffes said it experts some short-term disruption, but no medium to long-term effects.

Meanwhile, Pacheco will be in Ecuador on January 26 for a summit of Latin American leaders when the EU banana regime will be top of the agenda. The banana producing countries aim to arrive at a common position on proposed changes to the regime for a 2230 a tonne tariff. Costa Rica’s position to date has been the maintenance of the staus quo rather than change.

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