December 13 2006, 12:25

Russians grow bananas in Ecuador – with success

The large Russian import volume of bananas from Ecuador has led to the development that many importers have opened their own offices in Ecuador and started working with their own growers. One example is Sunway that started its operations in Ecuador as S.W.T. in 2001 already. Now its office occupies the entire 14th flour of the World Trade Center in Guayaquil, but is also owner of 1000 hectare of banana cultivation, spraying planes, its own technical support department and it has 1000 people on the payroll.

The Russian company Sorus which operates as Banafresh in Ecuador, was the first Russian company to start its direct Ecuadorian operation in 2000. It is the second supplier to the Russian market and already 700 hectare of its production is EurepGAP certified. Totally the company has 1285 hectare of own production and 1500 people on the payroll, offices and warehouses in Guayaquil, Quevedo and Machala.

JFC started in Ecuador in 2004 and is the first supplier to the Russian market. The company has 2000 hectare of own production. It also disposes of its own technical services.

During the first 10 months of last year, the three companies increased their collective banana purchases with 18% or 3,9 mln. boxes, according to the association of Ecuadorian banana exporters AEBE.