Bananas

A tropical staple and the archetypal export fruit, grown for trade largely as one clone exposed to a deadly soil fungus.

Fruit, roots & pulses · No. 117

• Not on a critical list
• HHI 996 · unconcentrated

Nearly every exported banana is a clone of one sterile plant, leaving a global trade exposed to a single soil fungus.

Chart: Illustration: Bananas

Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Export bananas are almost all Cavendish, a sterile clone grown from suckers or tissue culture, cut green and boxed on the farm; world output was about 139 million tonnes in 2024.

Three things to know

1. India grows 27% of the world's bananas, over three times China, yet Ecuador leads exports with 26.7% of the $13.2 billion trade.
2. Bananas are shipped green and must be ripened within weeks, so there are no stockpiles to absorb a bad harvest.
3. In real 2010 dollars the US banana price fell from $1.40/kg in 2023 to $0.94 in 2025.

The journey

1. 1 PlantletsSuckers or tissue culture, never seed
2. 2 PlantationCavendish clones in the humid tropics
3. 3 PackingCut green, washed, treated and boxed
4. 4 Reefer shipChilled carefully, as bananas hate cold
5. 5 Ripening roomsEthylene turns them yellow near market
6. 6 RetailSold as fresh dessert fruit

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