bananas

The Banana Growers Council has predicted a record year for Australian bananas, with total production set to surpass 29m cartons by the end of this financial year, according to ABC Rural.

“These sort of numbers, even a couple of years ago, would have completely destroyed the market,” the council’s Doug Phillips told the ABC, adding that this year market demand has matched supply.

“What we’ve seen this year is relatively reasonable return…the fruit has really flowed through the market quite well. We haven’t seen chronic over-supply.

“The fact we have seen this quantity of fruit flow through the market is testimony to the fact we are getting results through marketing, but it has been backed up with some good-quality fruit as well,” said Phillips.

According to the ABC, this record year of production puts Australia’s banana industry as the leading horticultural industry in the country, an expansion that Phillips said is a challenging but positive one.