The Banana Exporters Association of Ecuador (AEBE) has announced goals to ship one million cartons of fruit to China each month, website Hoy.com.ec reported.

The story reported the move was prompted by a 12% fall in exports during the first four months of the year, reaching 97.3 million cartons with the U.S. and Europe as the main markets.

Earlier this month, AEBE executive director Eduardo Ledesma told www.freshfruitportal.com of an expected rise in productivity, which would call for the opening of new markets.

The proposed Chinese export target would only make up around 4% of recent production if successful.

A representative of exporter Reybanpac the Chinese market used to be almost guaranteed for Ecuadorian exporters, who in 1998 were shipping 300,000 metric tons (MT) annually.

In 2011 the export figure to the East Asian giant was drastically lower at 7,000MT.

"An opportunity exists today, mainly because right now China is going through a bad moment politically with the Philippines, and that is one of its main banana suppliers," said Ecuador-China Chamber president and Reybanpac representative Vicente Wong.

Wong and Ledesma are aiming to reduce the country's export tariff in China down from the current 10% rate.

China Council for the Promotion of Foreign Trade representative Zhang Wei, recently visited the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil to discuss the issue with the industry.

The story reported Zhang said a tariff reduction was "feasible".

Related story: Ecuador needs open banana markets to absorb productivity growth

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