<p style="text-indent:0px; line-height:12px;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Ecuador-</span><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">By ANUK Staff<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">1.15.13</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>According to the Ecuadorian Association of Banana Growers, the growing costs of supplies and logistics have raised the price per box of bananas, which is standing in the way of sales.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The Ecuadorian fruit is losing its competitive edge.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/ecuadorbananasbody1.jpg" alt="Images011513" /><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">José María Guerrero, representative of the Irish company Fyffes, which provides 900,000 boxes of bananas weekly to European markets, noted that Ecuador may no longer represent a financially feasible source because the costs of production have increased the final price of the box of banana, according to ecuvisa.com.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Making things more difficult for the Ecuadorian banana deal, other Central American countries also represent a cheaper alternative. While the Ecuadorian box of bananas sold at $10.57 USD, Columbia, Costa Rica and other Central American countries sell for as little as $8 per box USD.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Eduardo Ledesma, representative of the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE), explained that the costs of production increased the final sale price. The official price of the box of bananas is actually 6 dollars, plus the costs associated with exportation and logistics. According to figures from the AEBE, this elevated price has caused only 2.5 million of 5 million boxes to have formal contracts for sale.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://ecuavisa.com/noticias/noticias-economia/70323-venta-de-banano-ecuatoriano-en-el-atlantico-se-redujo-a-la-mitad.html " target="_new">Ecuadorian Bananas</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
