Panama Faces Drop in Banana Exports
(Prensa Latina) Panama faces a possible drop of around 20 percent in its banana exports due to the lack of financing, plagues and climate adversities.
According to industry stats published by the local media, from January thru November, 2008, foreign sales of the fruit reached 17 million 689 thousand boxes. That represented a reduction of 2.7 million boxes compared to the same period of 2007.
Revenues from the sales amounted to 92.8 million dollars, a setback of nearly nine million dollars.
Producers consider the situation could be still worse in the short term, taking into account the effects from November floods in the provinces of Bocas del Toro and Chiriqui.
As a result of the severe rains brought by a cold front in that month, dozens of acres of banana plantations were damaged.
