From Caribbean360

The new company, to be named ChiquitaFyffes, will have about US$4.6 billion in annual revenue, shipping about 160 million boxes of bananas a year.

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, St. Lucia’s Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony says his administration was a bit “surprised” at the move by Chiquita Brand International to acquire the Irish-based Fyffes, which distributes fruits, including bananas, across Europe.

Chiquita said on Monday that it would pay about $526 million for Fyffes and global industry sources said the deal will potentially give Chiquita some sway over prices.

But Anthony told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that while regional banana producers would not forget the role played by the US-based company in the erosion of the preferential treatment for Caribbean bananas on the European market, the new deal also opens new possibilities for Caribbean bananas.

Anthony said the Windward Islands Banana Development and Exporting Company (WIBDECO) whose mandate is to strengthen the competitiveness of the Windward Islands’ banana industry, would now have to ensure that that the islands take advantage of the agreement involving Fyttes that markers the region’s fruit.

“There is no doubt with the challenges that we are facing with bananas WIBDECO would have to recalibrate and virtually reshape its operations in the region and in some extent is struggling to do so. Whether or not it has been successful is a different matter but an effort is being made.

“I don’t think necessarily that would compound the pressure but I would say on the other hand WIBDECO would have to lead the way in help in us to maximise any benefits from this relationship between Fyffes and Chiquita.”

Anthony said the demands for bananas from the Windward Islands – Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada- remain within the European market.

‘There is demand for our fruit. The problem is production. We are not producing enough for the UK market,” he said, noting also the “serious problems” the regional banana sector has had to deal within including severe weather conditions and the Black Stigatoka disease.

“I think this merger between Fyffes and Chiquita does in fact present market opportunities and we have to explore these market opportunities.

“Incidentally, let me also say I think there is also huge possibility for marketing our bananas in the region itself. There is no reason, for example, for a country like Trinidad and Tobago to be importing Chiquita bananas into Trinidad.

“Really what should be happening is that bananas from the Windward Islands should be on the market shelves in Trinidad and the other islands and we are yet to tap the potential from the cruise industry. There have been some…efforts but it has to co ordinated and we now have to adopt a far more different approach for the sale of bananas on the regional market”.

Anthony said he had been told that the price the regional banana producing countries receive for selling their fruit in the Caribbean “is much higher than the price we get for selling our bananas to the UK”.

According to the US  Department of Agriculture, bananas account for more than a quarter of all the fruit eaten in the United States with the country importing 3.8 million to 4.1 million tons of bananas a year.

The new company, to be named ChiquitaFyffes, will have about US$4.6 billion in annual revenue, shipping about 160 million boxes of bananas a year.

Though Chiquita shareholders will own about 51 percent of the new company, ChiquitaFyffes will be based in Ireland.

Chiquita has annual revenue of more than three billion US dollars and employs about 20,000 people in nearly 70 countries while Fyffes employs about 12,000 people and has annual revenue of more than US$1.5 billion.

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