From 2020 to 2021, the value of globally exported bananas flatlined via a 2.1% gain from 2020 to 2021.
The biggest 5 exporters of bananas (Ecuador, Costa Rica, Philippines, Colombia and Guatemala) accounted for almost three-fifths (58.3%) of all banana sales on international markets.
Applying a continental lens, Latin America excluding Mexico plus the Caribbean produced the highest dollar worth of banana exports in 2021 with shipments valued at $8.3 billion or 57.5% of international banana sales. European exporters were responsible for 17.6% of total exported bananas, trailed by shippers in Asia at 13.9%.
Smaller percentages came from exporters in Africa (6%), North America (5%) then Oceania (0.003%) led by Australia.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 0803 for fresh or dried bananas and plantains.
Top 15 Bananas Exporters by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of bananas during 2021.
- Ecuador: US$3.5 billion (24.1% of total exported bananas)
- Costa Rica: $1.9 billion (12.9%)
- Philippines: $1.1 billion (7.8%)
- Colombia: $1 billion (7%)
- Guatemala: $943.5 million (6.5%)
- Netherlands: $757.8 million (5.2%)
- Belgium: $757.5 million (5.2%)
- United States: $470.6 million (3.2%)
- Ivory Coast: $395.6 million (2.7%)
- Panama: $297.3 million (2%)
- Cameroon: $285.1 million (2%)
- Germany: $277.6 million (1.9%)
- Mexico: $261.6 million (1.8%)
- Dominican Republic: $228.9 million (1.6%)
- Laos: $221.3 million (1.5%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 85.6% of global banana exports in 2021.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing bananas exporters from 2020 to 2021 were: Ivory Coast (up 146.4%), Panama (up 96%), Costa Rica (up 72.9%) and Germany (up 11.3%).
Year over year, 5 countries posted declines in their exported bananas sold in 2021: Philippines (down -29.9%), Dominican Republic (down -7%), Ecuador (down -4.9%), Laos (down -2.7%) and Mexico (down -1.1%).
Countries Generating Biggest Surpluses Trading Bananas
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for bananas during 2021. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s banana exports and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Ecuador: US$3.5 billion (net export surplus down -4.9% since 2019)
- Costa Rica: $1.9 billion (up 73.1%)
- Philippines: $1.1 billion (down -29.9%)
- Colombia: $1 billion (up 2.8%)
- Guatemala: $942 million (up 1.4%)
- Ivory Coast: $395.6 million (up 146.4%)
- Cameroon: $285.1 million (up 2.2%)
- Panama: $272.5 million (up 79.6%)
- Mexico: $261.6 million (down -1.1%)
- Dominican Republic: $228.9 million (down -7%)
- Laos: $220.6 million (down -3%)
- Cambodia: $168.3 million (up 49.1%)
- Vietnam: $166.7 million (up 13.5%)
- Peru: $145.2 million (down -3%)
- India: $144.1 million (up 42.2%)
Ecuador earned the highest surplus in the international trade of bananas. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms Ecuador’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Countries Causing Greatest Deficits Trading Bananas
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for bananas during 2021. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s banana import purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United States: -US$2.3 billion (net export deficit down -0.8% since 2020)
- Russia: -$1 billion (down -4%)
- Japan: -$981.87 million (down -0.7%)
- China: -$927.9 million (up 1.2%)
- Germany: -$826.1 million (up 3.6%)
- United Kingdom: -$697.3 million (down -0.8%)
- France: -$550.1 million (up 12.2%)
- Canada: -$458.3 million (up 5%)
- Italy: -$454.9 million (down -3.7%)
- South Korea: -$290.1 million (up 5.2%)
- Belgium: -$276 million (down -33.1%)
- Poland: -$275.8 million (up 5.3%)
- Argentina: -$270.5 million (up 11.2%)
- Ukraine: -$198.4 million (up 11.7%)
- Spain: -$185.4 million (up 10.3%)
The United States of America incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of bananas. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights America’s strong competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for banana-supplying countries that help satisfy the robust demand from American consumers.
One possible tactic is to introduce innovative ways to store or extend the shelf lives of such perishable goods.
Major Bananas Exporting Companies
Below are the world’s biggest banana-supplying conglomerates. Shown within parentheses is the country where the company is headquartered.
- ChiquitaFyffes (Ireland)
- Dole Food Company (United States)
- Fresh Del Monte Produce (United States)
- Grupo Noboa S.A. (Ecuador)
These four giants account for about three-quarters of global banana market share, based on statistics from public interest group BananaLink.
However, a 2017 analysis entitled The Changing Role of Multinational Companies in the Global Banana Trade from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations points out that while market share has concentrated among these corporate titans, their collective percentage shares of global banana exports has shrunk significantly from 70% of total banana exports in 2002 to 44.4% during 2013.
According to global trade intelligence firm Zepol, the following companies are also multinational suppliers of bananas located in the country shown within parentheses:
- Union De Bananeros Ecuatoriano (Ecuador)
- Operaciones Tropicales (United States)
- Standard Fruit De Hondura (Honduras)
Searchable List of Bananas Exporting Countries
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. Note that the right-most column highlights the percentage change in the value of exported bananas from 2020 to 2021.
| Rank | Exporter | Exported Bananas (US$) | 2020-1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Ecuador | $3,500,321,000 | -4.9% |
| 2. | Costa Rica | $1,872,654,000 | +72.9% |
| 3. | Philippines | $1,127,537,000 | -29.9% |
| 4. | Colombia | $1,017,343,000 | +2.7% |
| 5. | Guatemala | $943,532,000 | +1.4% |
| 6. | Netherlands | $757,793,000 | +2% |
| 7. | Belgium | $757,531,000 | +1.6% |
| 8. | United States | $470,619,000 | +4.9% |
| 9. | Ivory Coast | $395,555,000 | +146.4% |
| 10. | Panama | $297,337,000 | +96% |
| 11. | Cameroon | $285,144,000 | +2.2% |
| 12. | Germany | $277,617,000 | +11.3% |
| 13. | Mexico | $261,612,000 | -1.1% |
| 14. | Dominican Republic | $228,855,000 | -7% |
| 15. | Laos | $221,272,000 | -2.7% |
| 16. | Vietnam | $179,886,000 | +10.9% |
| 17. | Cambodia | $168,294,000 | +49.1% |
| 18. | France | $159,663,000 | +21.2% |
| 19. | Peru | $145,240,000 | -2.9% |
| 20. | India | $144,131,000 | +42.2% |
| 21. | Honduras | $137,195,000 | -38.4% |
| 22. | Ghana | $97,597,000 | +0.1% |
| 23. | Spain | $92,417,000 | +22.4% |
| 24. | Turkey | $90,567,000 | -10.2% |
| 25. | Italy | $85,624,000 | +42.9% |
| 26. | Slovenia | $61,916,000 | +7.6% |
| 27. | Poland | $60,274,000 | -15.5% |
| 28. | Nicaragua | $55,203,000 | +4.4% |
| 29. | Belize | $46,051,000 | +5.1% |
| 30. | Russia | $45,542,000 | +14.6% |
| 31. | Greece | $42,652,000 | -4.5% |
| 32. | Mozambique | $41,217,000 | +22.3% |
| 33. | Czech Republic | $39,787,000 | +6.3% |
| 34. | Bolivia | $37,817,000 | +4.8% |
| 35. | Brazil | $37,113,000 | +42.1% |
| 36. | Portugal | $29,002,000 | +11.1% |
| 37. | Sweden | $23,078,000 | +5.7% |
| 38. | Hungary | $19,519,000 | +50.5% |
| 39. | Paraguay | $19,229,000 | +23.3% |
| 40. | Latvia | $19,123,000 | +31.8% |
| 41. | Slovakia | $18,360,000 | -4.9% |
| 42. | Thailand | $17,375,000 | +9.1% |
| 43. | Romania | $17,168,000 | +94.6% |
| 44. | China | $14,800,000 | -7.1% |
| 45. | Pakistan | $13,689,000 | -42.7% |
| 46. | South Africa | $13,451,000 | +24.4% |
| 47. | Sri Lanka | $12,193,000 | -22.2% |
| 48. | Austria | $10,670,000 | -21.4% |
| 49. | Malaysia | $9,997,000 | +15.1% |
| 50. | Uganda | $9,059,000 | +156% |
| 51. | Ireland | $8,971,000 | -26.9% |
| 52. | Lithuania | $6,527,000 | -36% |
| 53. | Indonesia | $6,090,000 | +7.8% |
| 54. | Eswatini | $5,438,000 | +23.3% |
| 55. | Finland | $5,110,000 | +25.7% |
| 56. | Ethiopia | $4,859,000 | +23.2% |
| 57. | Taiwan | $4,723,000 | -21.5% |
| 58. | Angola | $4,615,000 | +52% |
| 59. | Hong Kong | $4,173,000 | +53.1% |
| 60. | Croatia | $3,254,000 | -21.6% |
| 61. | Seychelles | $2,440,000 | #DIV/0! |
| 62. | Kazakhstan | $1,834,000 | +511.3% |
| 63. | Denmark | $1,818,000 | -16.1% |
| 64. | Zimbabwe | $1,812,000 | -6.5% |
| 65. | Egypt | $1,791,000 | -43.7% |
| 66. | Saint Lucia | $1,695,000 | -68.1% |
| 67. | United Kingdom | $1,434,000 | -94.2% |
| 68. | Suriname | $1,065,000 | 0% |
| 69. | Myanmar | $891,000 | -99.8% |
| 70. | Bulgaria | $754,000 | +45% |
| 71. | Jamaica | $726,000 | -12.3% |
| 72. | Iceland | $690,000 | +118.4% |
| 73. | St Vincent/Grenadines | $562,000 | -41.4% |
| 74. | Ukraine | $547,000 | +1172.1% |
| 75. | Luxembourg | $503,000 | -12.5% |
| 76. | Bangladesh | $450,000 | -14% |
| 77. | Saudi Arabia | $415,000 | -86.3% |
| 78. | Tanzania | $391,000 | -83.2% |
| 79. | Canada | $376,000 | +108.9% |
| 80. | Serbia | $374,000 | +249.5% |
| 81. | Sudan | $364,000 | -15.5% |
| 82. | Kyrgyzstan | $322,000 | +19.3% |
| 83. | Yemen | $307,000 | -6.1% |
| 84. | Dominica | $283,000 | -79.8% |
| 85. | Morocco | $262,000 | +231.6% |
| 86. | Chile | $256,000 | -26.9% |
| 87. | Australia | $221,000 | +90.5% |
| 88. | Montserrat | $209,000 | +8.9% |
| 89. | Rwanda | $159,000 | -27.1% |
| 90. | United Arab Emirates | $133,000 | -98.3% |
| 91. | Cyprus | $132,000 | +560% |
| 92. | Burkina Faso | $108,000 | +54.3% |
| 93. | South Korea | $91,000 | +333.3% |
| 94. | Guam | $84,000 | -69% |
| 95. | New Zealand | $74,000 | +111.4% |
| 96. | Estonia | $70,000 | -74.5% |
| 97. | Burundi | $66,000 | -19.5% |
| 98. | Eritrea | $61,000 | 0% |
| 99. | Lebanon | $61,000 | -99.7% |
| 100. | Georgia | $59,000 | -46.8% |
An entry of 0 in the right-most column means that no data was available for 2020.
Related Read: Bananas Exporters Ranked by Average Prices & Shipment Weight
See also Bananas Exporters Ranked by Average Prices & Shipment Weight, Bananas Imports by Country and Pineapples Exports by Country and Top Almonds Exporters by Country
Research Sources:
BananaLInk, Multinationals Lose Grip on Global banana exports. Accessed on May 21, 2022
Bloomberg Business, With Chiquita-Fyffes Merger, Dole Will No Longer Be Top Banana (March 10, 2017). Accessed May 21, 2022
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on May 21, 2022
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, The Changing Role of Multinational Companies in the Global Banana Trade (2017). Accessed on May 21, 2022
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 21, 2022
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 21, 2022
Zepol’s company summary highlights by HTS code. Accessed on May 21, 2022
