Vietnam’s bananas imported to the EU at a sky-high price

The price of Vietnamese banana imported to the European Union (EU) increased substantially in 2020 and remained at a sky-high level compared to other main suppliers to the EU.

Data of the Eurostat, the Statistical office of the EU, showed that the bloc’s import of bananas (including leafy bananas, fresh or dried), (excluding the UK), reached 7.7 million tons worth 5.26 billion euros (approximately US$6.36 billion) in the first 11 months of 2020, up 3% in volume and 1.3% in value compared to the 2019’s figures.

The average import price of bananas imported to the EU reached 683 euro/ton, down 1.6% over the same period in 2019.

Vietnam’s bananas accounts for a very modest share of the EU’s import but the price of Vietnamese bananas increased sharply. In the first 11 months last year, the Vietnamese banana price was averaged at 3,192.9 euro per ton, up 16.4% year-on-year.

The average price of Vietnamese bananas was much higher than other suppliers such as Ecuador (605 euro/ton), Colombia (588 euro/ton) and Costa Rica (645.7 euro/ton)...

Despite the sky-high prices, the volume of Vietnamese bananas imported to the EU decreased significantly, reaching only 14 tons during January-November 2020, down 26.7% year-on-year.

With such a small export volume, Vietnam ranked only 55th among the banana suppliers for the EU market. Meanwhile, bananas are the favourite fruit of EU consumers and have the biggest imported volume in the bloc.