The banana links...

workers and consumers

at the producer end...
Banana workers wages compared
to the cost of a basic food basket

plantation worker

importer/ripener

1.5p

17p

400
330

Banana workers monthly wage

Basic food basket

300
US $

... at the consumer end of the chain

grower/owner

EU tariff

10.5p

5p

Who imports these bananas?

retailer

40p

27%

Fyffes

18%

Fresh Del Monte Produce

18%

Jamaica Producers
(35% owned by Dole)

13%

S H Pratts

12%

Keelings/Chiquita

8%

Mack Multiples

4%

Bristol Fruit

195

200

160
120

102

100
38
0
Ecuador 1

Costa Rica 2

Nicaragua 3

The food basket excludes other living costs such

as education, housing, electricity and water.

ions

un

ou

il d

Take action

on t

to

rac ti n

e
repr

h e alt h
lo n g hour

ssi

deforestation

s
s o cial i n

Social decomposition

Chemical use
Agrochemicals represent the single greatest
hazard to workers health. They are rarely given
appropriate protective gear, equipment or
training, yet the cumulative effects of exposure
to the huge quantities of toxic chemicals
causes symptoms from headaches to death.

redirect water
courses for
irrigation
& drainage
plastic to
protect bananas
from damage
by insects

chemical to
control diseases
& pests

damage to
human health
& death of soil

waste

Buy Fairtrade labelled or Windward

Island bananas wherever possible.
Write to your MP, calling on
them to introduce mechanisms
to limit the negative impacts
of supermarket buying power.
Join the Banana Action
mailing list.
Visit www.bananalink.org.uk

contamination
of water
courses

killing of
biodiversity

UK fairtrade banana sales

2000
Boxes in 000s

it

ag

ch
b- c

en

of

l har

m
ass

26p

intensive monoculture for export bananas

da

bil

xua

es

ty

su

w ag

ri

j ob inst a

lac
sic
ben k o f b a
r
efi t
s at wo

se

ab

lo

Supermarkets

exporter/shipper

1. FENACLE; 2. 2001 FIGURES FROM WWW.ESTADONACION.OR.CR;

3. INDEPENDENT SOURCES AND NICARAGUAN PRESS, 2002.

cu

SOURCE:

1500

1000
500

perfect looking bananas

2000

2001

2002

2003

British
consumers
ate over 40
million boxes
of bananas
in 2002.

Bananas are the single most protable

item sold in a supermarket.
Five bananas out of every six sold across
Britain are sold by one of a dozen retail
companies. Tesco, the biggest player, sells
one banana in every four.
Tesco alone makes about 1 million prot
every week just from selling bananas.
The total pay and benets package of Tesco
Chief Executive Sir Terry Leahy rose by more
than 15% to 2.84 million which includes
his 916,000 basic salary.
The price of one kilo of bananas has
dropped in many supermarkets from
1.08 to 81p since August 2002: Cheap
bananas, but at what cost?
Banana Link works with banana workers unions and
small farmers organisations in Latin America and the
Caribbean for more environmentally, socially and
economically sustainable banana production and trade.
For more information, to nd out about other materials
or what other actions you can take, contact us at:
Banana Link, 38 Exchange Street, Norwich NR2 1AX
Tel: 01603 765670, Fax: 01603 761645
Email: blink@gn.apc.org
Not-for-prot cooperative company limited by guarantee: 3144239

Race to the bottom: Supermarkets demand increasing quality standards yet push down the prices they pay to their suppliers. Price cuts are often passed back along
the banana chain until they reach the workers, those who have the least to spare. More and more companies are buying from Ecuador and Cameroon, which have
some of the worst social and environmental conditions in the industry, in search of cheaper sources of bananas driving down conditions elsewhere.
May 2003