Bananas: Characteristics
Green life, peel and ethylene: what buyers pay for
What this tab covers The supply and physical characteristics of the commodity. Supply: current production, inventories and stocks, capacity utilisation, geographic and producer concentration, how fast supply responds to price, the project pipeline and capital spending, and logistics and export flows. Material: the physical and chemical properties that set its grade, price and end uses (for example purity and conductivity for metals, API gravity, sulfur and energy content for fuels, moisture, protein and fibre quality for crops).Supply volume characteristics
| Characteristic | Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current production volume | 139.4 Mt (2024), plus 44.6 Mt of plantains | India grew 37.6 Mt (27.0%) on 0.95 Mha. World exports were 21.7 Mt in 2025, about 16% of output, 6.5 Mt from Ecuador. | FAOSTAT 2024; FAO Banana Market Review 2025 |
| Inventory and stock levels | none: shelf life of a few weeks even under refrigeration | There are no stocks to draw on. Supply adjusts through harvest timing, fruit left uncut and shipping schedules. Fruit in transit and in ripening rooms, about 2-4 weeks of supply, is the only buffer. | FAO bananas commodity page |
| Capacity utilisation | not published | Plantations harvest year-round. The relevant capacity is reefer shipping and ripening rooms in importing countries, and neither reports utilisation publicly. | content of this tile |
| Geographic and producer concentration | India 27.0%, top-3 (India, China, Indonesia) 42.1%, HHI 996 (2024) | Exports are much more concentrated: Ecuador alone is 26.7% of value and about 32% of volume, and four Latin American countries supply 54% of value. Dole, Chiquita, Fresh Del Monte and Fyffes dominate the export trade. | FAOSTAT 2024; UN Comtrade 2024; FAO 2025 |
| Supply elasticity | moderate: about a year from planting to first bunch, then continuous | Supply responds within 9-12 months, so real prices have been flat: $0.87/kg in 2010 and $0.94/kg in 2025 in real 2010 dollars. Fusarium TR4 can remove supply for years, as replanted soil stays infected. | World Bank Pink Sheet; content of this tile |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | no large new export capacity tracked; TR4 is the main threat | Growth in India and China comes from tissue-culture plantlets and drip irrigation. Export expansion in Ecuador is limited by TR4 risk and minimum box prices. | content of this tile |
| Logistics and export flows | exports 21.7 Mt (2025), worth $13.2 bn (2024) | Green fruit ships at about 13-14 C in reefer containers or reefer vessels from Guayaquil, Puerto Bolivar, Moin and Santa Marta to the US, Europe and Russia, and from Davao to Japan, China and the Gulf. Reefer capacity and Panama Canal or Red Sea disruption are the bottlenecks. India exports only about 2% of its crop, mostly to the Gulf. | FAO 2025; UN Comtrade 2024 |
Material characteristics Agricultural / soft commodity
Export bananas are almost all Cavendish, cut green and ripened with ethylene near markets. Buyers pay for size, unblemished peel and long green life. Bananas are sensitive to cold, so carriage temperature is critical. Starch turns to sugar as fruit ripens.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finger length and grade | EU minimum length 14 cm and minimum grade (thickness) 27 mm | Below minimum cannot be sold as Extra or Class I in the EU | EU Regulation 1333/2011 |
| Quality class | Extra, Class I, Class II by defects of peel and shape | Sets price and retail channel | EU Regulation 1333/2011; UNECE FFV-61 |
| Carriage temperature | about 13-14 C; chilling injury below about 12 C | Wrong temperature ruins colour and ripening of whole containers | shipping practice (indicative) |
| Green life and ripening stage | colour scale 1 (green) to 7 (yellow with brown flecks) | Retailers order by colour stage; green life sets how far fruit can travel | industry colour charts (indicative) |
| Sugar content when ripe | about 20-25% soluble solids (Brix) | Drives taste; green fruit is mostly starch | food composition literature (indicative) |
| Box weight | standard export box about 18.14 kg (40 lb) | Prices and contracts are quoted per box | trade practice |