Six months since pulling out of the Banana Group, Windwards Bananas has become less reliant on sales of loose bananas in the UK and is successfully developing its own arrangements with individual retailers.
“The Banana Group did a really good job for us,” said Roy Hugh, sales and marketing director at Windwards Bananas. “But with the price deflation in the market and prices at 74p a kilo - the same level as in 1982 - in three major multiples, there really is no such thing as a brand any more and the supermarkets are really dictating things. We are a relatively niche player and so decided to develop our own strategies with individual retailers.”
Consequently, the group has moved away from a reliance on loose bananas into adding value. “We are offering more bagged bananas and Fairtrade,” said Hugh. “We are the biggest importer of Fairtrade bananas.”
Windwards Bananas is working with retailers that suit its niche: Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose, with which it is running a TV ad campaign.
“We are pleased with the way things are going,” said Hugh. “We are even expanding and finding markets outside the UK for the first time: we started exporting Fairtrade bananas to Switzerland on January 15.”
The loss of some growers that exporters from the Windward Islands warned of last summer, as a result of UK supermarket price cutting, has happened. But not to the extent it might have had Windwards Bananas not changed its tack. “It is inevitable that some growers will go out of business, but this has not been a huge number,” said Hugh. “Mainly it has been natural wastage in the industry as older growers retire.”
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