{"id":191445,"date":"2025-10-28T20:27:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T19:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/?p=191445"},"modified":"2025-11-12T12:45:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T11:45:49","slug":"ecuadors-banana-exports-grow-despite-trump-tariffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/ecuadors-banana-exports-grow-despite-trump-tariffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecuador\u2019s banana exports grow despite Trump tariffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guayaquil, Ecuador, Oct 28 (EFE).\u2014<\/strong> Tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump<\/strong> have not stopped Ecuador<\/strong>, the world\u2019s top banana exporter<\/strong>, from increasing shipments to the United States<\/strong> this year \u2014 a trend exporters say challenges Europe\u2019s artificially low banana prices<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Tariffs fail to slow Ecuador\u2019s export momentum<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Jos\u00e9 Antonio Hidalgo<\/strong>, executive director of the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE)<\/strong> and coordinator of the Ecuadorian Banana and Plantain Cluster<\/strong>, told EFE that exports to the U.S. market have grown 8.39% in cargo volume since early 2025<\/strong>, despite tariff increases from 10% in April to 15% in August<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cU.S. supermarkets have passed these costs on to consumers, yet people are still buying far more bananas than any other fruit,<\/strong>\u201d Hidalgo said during Banana Time 2025<\/strong>, Ecuador\u2019s flagship banana industry convention<\/strong> and the largest of its kind in Latin America<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

By July 2025<\/strong>, Ecuador\u2019s banana exports to the United States were worth $377 million<\/strong>, up 14.6%<\/strong> from the same period in 2024. The U.S.<\/strong> is Ecuador\u2019s largest banana market<\/strong> after the European Union<\/strong>, Russia<\/strong>, and the Middle East<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe realized that passing on those costs didn\u2019t hurt demand; it actually increased it. That\u2019s the message for Europe,<\/strong>\u201d Hidalgo noted.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Photo
Photo of Jos\u00e9 Antonio Hidalgo, executive director of the Ecuadorian Banana Exporters Association (AEBE), speaking during an interview with EFE in Guayaquil, Ecuador. EFE\/ Jonathan Miranda Vanegas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fair pricing in Europe<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hidalgo emphasized that the banana value chain<\/strong> still faces major challenges. He called for fair recognition<\/strong> of the fruit\u2019s real value and the work of producers<\/strong>, particularly in light of supermarket pricing strategies<\/strong> that keep retail prices too low.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow (with the U.S. tariffs), we see proof that when prices go up, consumption also rises,<\/strong>\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe have to stop being the cheapest fruit on supermarket shelves in Europe. Supermarkets must take responsibility toward consumers,<\/strong>\u201d he added, stressing that bananas \u201cshould be sold with an appreciation of the fair stories behind sustainability, safety, and quality.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

European supermarkets join the discussion<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The German supermarket chain Aldi<\/strong> took part in Banana Time 2025<\/strong>, held in Guayaquil from Oct. 14\u201317<\/strong>, to present its long-term purchasing policy<\/strong> aimed at ensuring fair prices<\/strong> for both consumers and producers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was an important message for the global industry. We hope more supermarkets will follow that example,<\/strong>\u201d Hidalgo said.<\/p>\n

Ecuador\u2019s competitiveness in Asia<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In the Asia-Pacific region<\/strong>, AEBE<\/strong> sees major opportunities for Ecuador<\/strong> to expand exports of its premium bananas<\/strong> to China, South Korea, and Japan<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s 310,000 hectares of banana and plantain plantations<\/strong>, combined with the gradual reduction of import tariffs<\/strong>, have created favorable conditions in those markets.<\/p>\n

South Korea as a success story<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hidalgo cited South Korea<\/strong> as the best example. When its government temporarily cut tariffs on Ecuadorian bananas from 30% to 0%<\/strong> for one year, exports surged by 200%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In 2024<\/strong>, Ecuador\u2019s banana exports to South Korea totaled $46 million<\/strong>, up from $15 million in 2023<\/strong>. By July 2025<\/strong>, sales reached $33 million<\/strong>, a 23% increase<\/strong> over the same period in 2024.<\/p>\n

Long-term growth in Asian markets<\/strong><\/h2>\n

AEBE<\/strong> expects a similar trend in China<\/strong>, where a free trade agreement effective since 2024<\/strong> will reduce tariffs by one percentage point per year<\/strong> until they reach 0% in 2034<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Exporters see this as a long-term growth opportunity<\/strong> for Ecuador\u2019s banana sector<\/strong>, supported by increasing demand for premium-quality fruit<\/strong> across Asia.<\/p>\n

EFE published this report with the support of the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guayaquil, Ecuador, Oct 28 (EFE).\u2014 Tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump have not stopped Ecuador, the world\u2019s top banana exporter, from increasing shipments to the United States this year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198164071,"featured_media":191446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[123771],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEcuador\u2019s banana exports grow despite Trump tariffs - EFE Comunica<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ecuador\u2019s banana exports to the U.S. rose 8.39% in 2025 despite Trump tariffs, with exporters urging Europe to ensure fair banana prices.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/ecuadors-banana-exports-grow-despite-trump-tariffs\/\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ecuador\u2019s banana exports grow despite Trump tariffs - EFE Comunica","description":"Ecuador\u2019s banana exports to the U.S. rose 8.39% in 2025 despite Trump tariffs, with exporters urging Europe to ensure fair banana prices.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/ecuadors-banana-exports-grow-despite-trump-tariffs\/","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/ecuadors-banana-exports-grow-despite-trump-tariffs\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/ecuadors-banana-exports-grow-despite-trump-tariffs\/"},"author":{"name":"EFE","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#\/schema\/person\/38c335f1ce4cd42430576ef5499343b8"},"headline":"Ecuador\u2019s banana exports grow despite Trump tariffs","datePublished":"2025-10-28T19:27:43+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-12T11:45:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/ecuadors-banana-exports-grow-despite-trump-tariffs\/"},"wordCount":578,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/ecuadors-banana-exports-grow-despite-trump-tariffs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rss-efe0ea9972549bb475554aaf0fc4de8ae5978e3ceebw.jpg","articleSection":["Economy"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/ecuadors-banana-exports-grow-despite-trump-tariffs\/","url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/ecuadors-banana-exports-grow-despite-trump-tariffs\/","name":"Ecuador\u2019s banana exports grow despite Trump tariffs - EFE Comunica","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/ecuadors-banana-exports-grow-despite-trump-tariffs\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/ecuadors-banana-exports-grow-despite-trump-tariffs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rss-efe0ea9972549bb475554aaf0fc4de8ae5978e3ceebw.jpg","datePublished":"2025-10-28T19:27:43+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-12T11:45:49+00:00","description":"Ecuador\u2019s banana exports to the U.S. rose 8.39% in 2025 despite Trump tariffs, with exporters urging Europe to ensure fair banana prices.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/ecuadors-banana-exports-grow-despite-trump-tariffs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/ecuadors-banana-exports-grow-despite-trump-tariffs\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/ecuadors-banana-exports-grow-despite-trump-tariffs\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rss-efe0ea9972549bb475554aaf0fc4de8ae5978e3ceebw.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rss-efe0ea9972549bb475554aaf0fc4de8ae5978e3ceebw.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"caption":"Photo of Jos\u00e9 Antonio Hidalgo, executive director of the Ecuadorian Banana Exporters Association (AEBE), speaking during an interview with EFE in Guayaquil, Ecuador. EFE\/ Jonathan Miranda Vanegas"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/ecuadors-banana-exports-grow-despite-trump-tariffs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Portada","item":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ecuador\u2019s banana exports grow despite Trump tariffs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/","name":"EFE Comunica","description":"Contenidos para empresas","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#organization","name":"EFE Comunica","url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Logo-EFE-Comunica_png.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Logo-EFE-Comunica_png.png","width":1080,"height":486,"caption":"EFE Comunica"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EFEComunicaAgenciaEFE","https:\/\/x.com\/EFEcomunica","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/showcase\/efecomunica"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#\/schema\/person\/38c335f1ce4cd42430576ef5499343b8","name":"EFE","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5fcf26bedbd04dc20896c519164a13fe69c6913f5830d7db51543fa04eb30b4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5fcf26bedbd04dc20896c519164a13fe69c6913f5830d7db51543fa04eb30b4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5fcf26bedbd04dc20896c519164a13fe69c6913f5830d7db51543fa04eb30b4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"EFE"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/efe.com"],"url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/author\/efedesarrollo\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rss-efe0ea9972549bb475554aaf0fc4de8ae5978e3ceebw.jpg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcEg1r-NNP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198164071"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191445"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194663,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191445\/revisions\/194663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}