Dive Brief:
- The three largest players in the global banana trade -- Chiquita Brands International, Del Monte Fresh Produce, and Dole Fresh Fruit -- have seen their market share decline substantially in recent years.
- The "Big Three" controlled 65.3% of global banana exports in the 1980s, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). That number fell to 36.6% by 2013.
- The difference, according to FAO, comes from a number of factors: The shift away from plantation ownership by the major companies, the rise of newer companies, and a new tendency by major retailers to buy directly from growers.
Dive Insight:
The FAO report comes at a crucial time in the banana trade. The planned merger of Chiquita and Fyffes would create a new, mega-company with extraordinary influence on pricing. Chiquita faces an extraordinary threat to its pocketbook and reputation from a scandal involving payments to terrorist groups. And the fruit's crop itself is under siege throughout the world.
With so much in flux, it's no wonder that new players -- like BanaBay, which went from shipping a single container of bananas to 5.7 million pieces a week -- have emerged.