Philippines banana inspection

The Philippines Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) has said that the country's banana industry could be facing a number of tough obstacles as it looks to recover from a disappointing 2015.

The organisation said that the industry was facing threats from El Nino, Panama disease and attacks from insurgents, Manila Bulletin reported.

This follows on from a poor year last year, where the industry lost some US$500m as production dropped to 85.32m boxes for the January-September period – down from 90.14m boxes in 2014.

'The banana industry is in bad condition nowadays,” said Stephen Antig, executive director of PBGEA, who added that the 'worst is yet to come'.