The first six months of this year have seen a drop of 136,800 tonnes in Costa Rica’s banana export volume, according to Inside Costa Rica.

Costa Rica sold 1,182,149 tonnes of bananas in the first six months of last year, down to 1,045,299 tonnes in the same period in 2008, a drop of 11.6 per cent.

The drop is attributed to cold weather at the end of 2007 and a drought throughout the Caribbean following it.

Despite the significant drop in export volume, the value of Costa Rica’s banana exports only dropped US$6m, down to US$338m the first half of this year.

The export drop is another disappointment to the country’s banana industry, after talks to lower EU tariffs on Latin American bananas fell through with the collapse of the World Trade Organisation’s Doha round talks last month.

Bananas account for 40,000 jobs in Costa Rica, and are the country’s second largest value export after integrated circuits.

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