Ecuador’s association of banana exporters (AEBE) has threatened to strike next week if President Rafael Correa does not meet with association leadership to hear their concerns, local media reported.

The threat came after a meeting and march in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on Wednesday. Growers and exporters are demanding government action against the falling price of banana cartons and the lack of payment to smaller growers from the National Enma Food Stuff Company, a Libyan firm, a deal which had government backing.

The discord between growers and the government stems from a government-backed sourcing of Ecuadorian bananas to the Libyan firm at the end of July. According to local paper El Comercio, some 160,000 cartons of bananas were shipped at a fixed rate of US$ 5.40 per carton. However, to date, only US$ 2 per carton has been paid, and a second shipment has not received any payment.

Ecuador has suffered from increased political instability in recent weeks. A police strike in late September trapped Correa for several hours in a hospital in what some local and international sources described as a coup.

Source: www.freshfruitportal.com