Behind the success of Ecuador's bananas: Sustainability investments that retail prices fail to reflect says AEBE

Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE) prepare to participate in annual Fruit Attraction trade fair

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador, Sept. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Ecuador, the world's leading banana exporter, sustains much of its competitiveness through investments in environmental certifications, labor conditions, biosecurity, and technology—costs borne primarily by producers that, according to the sector, are not always reflected in retail prices across markets like Europe.

This will be one of the key messages the Banana and Plantain Cluster of Ecuador will bring to the Fruit Attraction trade fair, scheduled for October 6–8 in Madrid, where it will participate in the panel discussion "Beyond Fruit: The Social and Environmental Impact of Ecuadorian Bananas Worldwide."

The European Union (EU), destination for nearly a third of Ecuadorian banana exports, has raised its demands for traceability and environmental transparency. At the same time, industry representatives question how some supermarkets sell the fruit at heavy discounts that, in their view, fail to reflect actual production costs.

The Ecuadorian industry operates under international standards of good agricultural practices, environmental protection, labor standards, and responsible trade. Industry data shows that wages are 16.8% above the $495 living wage baseline established in Ecuador using the Anker methodology.

Shared Responsibility

Producers must also absorb investments in technological upgrades, more efficient irrigation systems, biosecurity, and audit processes, in an industry where 89% of farms are family-owned.

Consequently, one of the proposals championed by the sector in international forums is that sustainability must become a shared responsibility among producers, exporters, importers, supermarkets, and consumers.

The industry is also measuring the water and carbon footprints across the entire value chain using methodologies developed under the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) World Banana Forum.

This initiative forms part of the project "Accelerating the Sustainable Transformation of the Ecuadorian Banana Industry," linked to the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which aims to extend these measurements to at least 150,000 hectares of production.

The goal is to generate standardized data on water use and greenhouse gas emissions associated with production, variables that carry significant weight in international trade.

For the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE), these measurements will help strengthen the sector's competitiveness and its commitment to sustainability.

Media contact

Alexandra Pacheco
Head of Communications
+593 992260781
apacheco@aebe.com.ec

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