# Bananas

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

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/bananas/

Fruit, roots & pulses · No. 117

- Not on a critical list
- HHI 996 · unconcentrated
 Fruit, roots & pulses · Foundation · Matter

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 **Plantlets**Suckers or tissue culture, never seed
2. 2 **Plantation**Cavendish clones in the humid tropics
3. 3 **Packing**Cut green, washed, treated and boxed
4. 4 **Reefer ship**Chilled carefully, as bananas hate cold
5. 5 **Ripening rooms**Ethylene turns them yellow near market
6. 6 **Retail**Sold as fresh dessert fruit
 Covered in [What makes something a commodityCommodities](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/commodities/what-is-a-commodity/)[Supply, demand and the cost curveCommodities](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/commodities/supply-demand-costs/)

##### Go deeper pick a tab to open it in full

## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/bananas/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/bananas/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/bananas/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/bananas/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/bananas/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/bananas/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/bananas/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/bananas/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/bananas/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/bananas/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/bananas/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/bananas/links/index.md)