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amitkapur
01-04-2010, 12:58 PM
1) how is banana distibuted worldwide??
2) are there any agencies looking towards its trade???
3) which industries use banana as raw input and how do they get banana??

LilRaverBoi
01-04-2010, 03:03 PM
Welcome to the site! I hope you enjoy it here and learn a lot. I'm not entirely sure I can answer your questions fully, but I'm sure someone here will step in and help out. I do know that bananas are the 4th largest international cash crop behind rice, wheat and corn. Enjoy the site!

lorax
01-04-2010, 05:12 PM
Welcome aboard!

99% of the world banana trade is fruit, not plants. Worldwide, distribution is controlled by several large corporations, most notably Dole, Chiquita Brands, Del Monte, and Fyffes. These companies also maintain plantations in a number of countries, most notably in Central and South America and to a lesser extent, Africa. Most bananas are shipped by ocean freighters in refrigerated sea containers; a small percentage are shipped by air, and domestically they're ground-shipped either by rail or in refrigerated trucks.

Food and agricultural regulation agencies in most countries are responsible for trade regulations regarding bananas; in the EU, it's part of the governing body that controls food import tariffs, and in the producer countries, there's generally a member of the government in charge of bananas (for example, in Ecuador there's a Chief of Bananas who belongs to the Ministry of Agriculture; he's responsible for fixing the price per case of the country's crop, and ensuring that a) diseased plants don't make it into the country and b) disease is kept in check within the country's large plantations - to this end, he's responsible for plantation inspections on a quarterly basis.) You'd have to ask your local government what their stance is, if you're looking to begin large-scale plantings or imports.

As a fruit, the largest market for bananas is fresh. However, they're also an ingredient in any number of baked goods and other dishes. In Asian countries, there's also a market for the leaves and male inflorescences (banana buds), which are used in cooking. Industries that process bananas normally have an agreement with one of the big exporter/distributor companies, like Chiquita, and purchase their fruit in bulk directly from that company, rather than using a middleman.

There's also beginning to be a market for dried compressed banana pseudostem material, which can be used as fuel in remote or impoverished areas; secondarily, fermented banana waste is being investigated as a source of biodiesel. There is also a tiny artesanal industry that makes paper from banana fibre.

Abnshrek
01-05-2010, 12:44 AM
Hello & Welcome Someone trying to do a research paper on banana's?