// Aldi’s banana producers said its commitment to increase prices not enough to prevent loss of supply
// Aldi is the largest buyer of bananas in the European market
Aldi’s new commitment to increase banana prices from next year is not enough to prevent growers experiencing a loss on supply, producers have said.
The grocer said it would pay seven pence more per kilogramme of bananas from 2022, taking the total price to £1.39.
However, suppliers argued that freight costs of £1.43 per box and packaging costs of 75p per box mean their business is still unviable.
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Aldi is the largest buyer of bananas in the European market and therefore sets a price benchmark for other UK supermarkets, according to The Latin American Banana Task Force.
“We express our great concern about the aspirations of the European supermarkets in the negotiations which do not take into account the reality of the international markets, ” Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador executive director, Jose Antonio Hidalgo said.
Aldi said it was committed to the implementation of a living wage.
However, producers argued that the increased commitment to sustainable methods and processes incurred costs that were not being picked up by the retailers who asked for them in the first place.
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