The banana producer and exporter guilds of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, and the Dominican Republic have rejected German supermarket Kaufland's decision to sell 1 kilogram of bananas of Latin American origin to consumers for €0.88.

In a joint statement, the industry asserted that this pricing strategy is harmful to the sustainability of the banana sector. They argued that it misrepresents the realities of banana production in the region, which is increasingly burdened by the certification and regulatory requirements imposed by destination markets. These regulations, they noted, drive up production costs, while supermarkets and discount retailers fail to convey to consumers the true efforts required for sustainable and high-quality production under inconsistent standards.

From the industry's perspective, European supermarkets and discounters continue to promote a superficial narrative of sustainability that does not align with their actual business practices. The statement criticized what it described as a lack of coherence and real commitment, arguing that sustainability in this context is merely a marketing strategy designed to distract consumers.

“When we still have sustainability challenges that have been increasing costs and now we are pursued by the challenges of security, where they are increasingly increasing, we need a co-responsibility of Europe in every sense, from authorities, supermarkets, to have an economic sustainability of our product,” José Antonio Hidalgo, executive director of the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE), told FreshFruitPortal.com.

He added that these pricing practices undermine efforts made with other supermarkets that are committed to ending the cycle of low prices, which, he argued, “just generate a vicious circle of lack of recognition of the sustainability costs of our product.”