South Africa’s banana industry has expressed concern that if significant imports are allowed to continue, a large number of jobs could be lost and banana enterprises closed down. Lloyd Phillips reports.
Banana imports to South Africa have been increasing rapidly, placing the local industry under pressure.
According to the Banana Growers’ Association of South Africa (BGASA), from 2012 to 2016 a total of 462 847t of the fruit were imported from Mozambique, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Ecuador.
Based on SARS data, the BGASA found that there had been a 35,5% growth in South Africa’s banana imports from 2012 to 2016. Most came from Mozambique (418 225t), followed by Swaziland (42 290t), Zimbabwe (1 261t) and Ecuador (1 071t).
Blaine Peckham from BGASA told Farmer’s Weekly that while Mozambique and Swaziland had long been exporting bananas to South Africa, imports from Ecuador and Zimbabwe were more recent and growing exponentially.
Over 2012 to 2016, imports from Ecuador had grown a massive 2 470,9%, and those from Zimbabwe by 2 507,7%.
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