While one Ecuadorian-British company has experienced some logistical difficulties, the Ecuadorian Banana Exporters Association (AEBE) says the country's crops have not been affected by the recent devastating earthquake.

A representative of BanaBay told www.freshfruitportal.com severe damage cause to the road network means it has taken much longer to get consignments of bananas to the country’s main port in Guayaquil.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake on April 16 has left more than 650 people dead, injured thousands and left around 25,000 people homeless.

In the first two days following the initial quake, there were around 200 aftershocks felt across the country.

Hundreds of people are still missing.

"We have had tight communication with our growers during the disaster," BanaBay marketing executive Anna Viralainen told www.freshfruitportal.com.

"Thankfully all our employees are safe.

"Production is still smoothly up and running and there were no consequences so far at the plantations."

BanaBay, which is headquartered in the U.K., owns and operates banana plantations across the country, and has been working with Ecuadorian growers for several years. The earthquake has not directly affected any of its plantations.

Much of Pedernales, the coastal epicenter of the earthquake, has been flattened and approximately 7,000 buildings across Ecuador have been destroyed.

On the day of the quake BanaBay suspended logistical activities.

"The earthquake has affected roads and brought complications to logistics of the fruit.

"This lasted (suspended activities) lasted three days; the Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

"Additionally, because roads are damaged, trucks were required to take the longer route in the Los Rios area in order to transport fruit safely."

AEBE director Eduardo Ledesma said the majority of plantations were in the provinces of Los Ríos, Guayas and El Oro, which "of course felt the effects of the earthquake but the [seismic] waves didn't manage to cause damages that would affect productivity".

"Some posts fell and there were damages in some packhouses, but nothing that stops us from continuing to operate," Ledesma said.

"Most of the highways are fine in general. I haven't received many comments from exporters.

"You have to keep in mind that we represent close to 70% of exports from Ecuador and no one has commented about any delay in shipments or about transfers to the ports."

He said Ecuador's production would be greater this year by 3%, with expectation volume would break the record of 317 million cartons.

He said in moments like these the industry had to be as strong as possible in order to continue generating jobs and supporting the economy.

AEBE is currently calling on the government to speed up the process of securing a deal with the European Union to drop tariffs so it can secure a more competitive environment with Central American countries, Colombia and Peru.

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