John Myers Jr., Staff Reporter
THE BANANA Export Company (BECO) is facing a serious problem in meeting its export quota, as the adverse effects of the recent hurricanes continue to affect the banana industry.
"We went and sought shipping to move a minimum of 400 pallets (of bananas) per week (because) we felt confident that we could easily do that," Dr. Marshall Hall, chairman of the BECO, revealed.
However, "what has happened to us is that following (hurricanes) Dennis and Ivan we are no longer able to meet the 400-pallet requirement and our exports have now fallen below 200 pallets (per week)," Dr. Hall announced during the annual general meeting of BECO held yesterday at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston.
He explained that as a result of Jamaica being unable to produce the 400 pallets of bananas per week, exporters were required to pay what is termed dead freight charges. "We are in dialogue with the shippers to see if they will waive the dead freight requirement that is imposed on us if we did not ship the required 400 (pallets)," Dr. Hall said.
ACTS OF NATURE
Dr. Hall told the group of banana growers that if BECO is unsuccessful in the negotiations with the shipping company, then they will declare force majeure (or damage caused by acts of nature) to end the contract. "We will then continue to try to ship our bananas through a containerised system from Kingston," he said, but pointed out that that method would cost the company as much as two times what it now cost to export bananas.
This has come at a time when Jamaica and other members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group are struggling to stave off competition from Latin American producers who have been lobbying the European Union (EU) to end the preferential pricing arrangement with ACP banana producers.
In the meantime, Errol Ennis, State Minister for Agriculture, said he was not certain of the future of the banana industry in light of the current problems it faces. Mr. Ennis, who was the guest speaker at the meeting, also pointed out that the frequency and severity of natural disasters, such as floods and hurricanes, could soon result in farmers not being able to get insurance for their crops.
More than 27,000 tonnes of bananas were exported last year, generating US$17.7 million ($1,077,581,000) for the industry. Of this amount $881,536,000 was paid out to farmers.
