The consumers in China are buying more bananas from abroad than ever before as an increasingly health consciousness middle class helps propel the fruits popularity.
Imports of bananas increased to a record 227,199 tonnes in May, as per China’s general administration of customs which helped lift total shipments of fruits and nuts to 720,000 tonnes, an almost 8-fold increase from the same period last year.
Restrained by limited farmland and a destructive banana fungus called as the Panama disease. China has been increasing its reliance on supplies from Southeast Asia and South America. The demand for bananas is being encouraged by increasing incomes and high popularity of diets in China, even for use in smoothies and as banana chips.
It is to be noted that, China overtook Japan as the largest foreign market for bananas from the Philippines last year, as per Xinhua News Agency. The country procured over two-thirds of exports from the Southeast Asian country last year. Expanding supplies from different producers like Mexico and Cambodia. China has bought 1.54 million tonnes of bananas in 2018, a 50 per cent surge from a year ago, according to customs data.
Last month, fresh fruit prices were at a historical high in China, triggering concerns over accelerating inflation. Fruit and nut imports had also surged to a record in April amid rising local prices.
That momentum could subside in summer due to supply increase, according to Lu Ting, chief China economist at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Hong Kong. Imports are expected to become the biggest factor for the direction of domestic prices, as per Xinhua report in May, showing research from its think-tank unit.
