New, heftier profits for some, same old exploitation for others

Ecuador has closed a deal to sell Beijing 450,000 crates of bananas a week and is studying the possibility of exporting the same volume to other provinces of China, Agriculture Vice Minister Rafael Guerrero announced.

According to Guerrero, the sale will be implemented through the Ecuadorian State’s banana exporting body, Exportadora Estatal de Banano del Ecuador, and was negotiated last April 20 during the 2010 World Banana Forum, held in the city of Guayaquil.

“The deal is more or less finalized, and the details will be disclosed soon,” Guerrero said, as representatives of the export sector welcomed the news.

Vicente Wong, a member of the Ecuadorian Association of Banana Exporters (AEBE) and President and CEO of Rey Banano del Pacífico C.A. (Reybanpac), Favorita Fruit Company’s flagship business, which exports an average of 35 million crates a year, was pleased with the government-to-government negotiations.

But neither Vice Minister Guerrero nor Wong said anything about  the weekly shipments of 900,000 crates leading to an improvement of working conditions for banana workers, a sector that has traditionally been exploited. The Chinese government is probably not losing any sleep over this either.