A bruising battle

When I was a child, the humble banana was the oracle to some of the questions that I had about the world.

Ask it a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question, I was told, then carefully slice the tip off the bottom end and it will either show a ‘Y’ (meaning ‘yes’) or an ‘X’ (meaning ‘no’).

A childish ruse, yes, but it taught me to never underestimate the power of the banana (see Miliband, David, 2008).

Yesterday morning, the Fairtrade Foundation launched Britain’s Bruising Banana Wars – a report into the banana supply chain and its pricing structure.

A Bananapedia of facts (did you know that on average each UK consumer eats 100 bananas a year?), it makes a strong case for arguing that bananas are currently undervalued at retail.

“When compared to other fruit, a single banana can be grown on the other side of the world and shipped to Britain to be sold at 11p, less than the price of an apple grown on a UK farm, which costs 20p,” it states.

Those on the supply side will have heard the arguments before, but this time, the Foundation has ramped its efforts up a gear, calling for UK and EU authorities to investigate the banana supply chain.

For added weight, it has made bananas the focus of its Make Bananas Fair campaign during this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight (24 February to 9 March), asking consumers to sign a campaign for government action. It has also created a 6x4 metre billboard made from 5,000 Fairtrade bananas on Clapham Common to highlight the issue and enlisted celebrity supporters including Harry Hill.

It appears to be a well co-ordinated effort to bring about change, but, as other industries know (dairy, for example), the government is not keen to intervene in markets, and it won’t touch consumer goods pricing with a barge poll.

Whether or not the Foundation believes its call for intervention will actually be met, retailers would do well not to brush the report aside.

As Alistair Smith, international co-ordinator at NGO BananaLink, warns: “If British retailers do not break the logic of the banana price wars, they will be held responsible for forcing producers out of business and workers out of jobs. The squeeze has already destroyed livelihoods and the pressure to keep prices low is directly undermining the opportunities to invest in living wages and sustainability.”

As the UK’s most popular fruit, banana supply is an emotive topic and those retailers who do not use the report as an opportunity to review their sourcing and pricing policies could find themselves, well, slipping up.