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Bananas
The long hurricane season
affected banana supplies, and
the impact may well be felt
through the first half of this
year. About 80 percent of our
bananas come from the Central
American countries of Costa
Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and
Panama.
The troubles began with major
flooding in 2004. It took much
longer than anticipated for the
Central American plantations to
recover.
The restoration of
infrastructure such as roads,
bridges, communications, cooling
and electricity also was
delayed. Just when things were
improving, a series of
hurricanes hit Central America.
These storms caused tremendous
damage to plantations and the
infrastructure, and also led to
an increase in banana plant
diseases. Magnifying the supply
problem is the increased cost of
fuel and transportation. Expect
retail prices of 79 to 89 cents
a pound.
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