Title: The Banana Trade War — Global Issues
Headings: The Banana Trade War
The Banana Trade War
On this page:
Bananas are serious business
The WTO rules against the Largest Aid and Trade Pact, the Lomé Convention
A trade war between US and Europe: two banana-importing consumer nations
We will act multilaterally when we can and unilaterally when we must
Chiquita
Caribbean region’s dependency on bananas is unhealthy
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Content: Image: Women in Belize sorting bananas and slicing them from bunches. ( Source: Wikipedia)
Just 5 companies—Dole, Del Monte, Chiquita, Fyffes and Noboa—control some 80% of the international banana trade, according to Banana Link, a UK-based organization campaigning for fairer and sustainable banana trade. Cohen, mentioned above, summarizes how workers are exploited by a race to the bottom where supermarkets demand lowest prices for consumers, which results in low wages for workers in plantations. Some workers work very long hours, sometimes exposed to hazardous chemicals, some which are often banned from nations with better ability to provide for worker safety, such as in the US and Europe. Child labor, gender discrimination and other problems accompany this drive for low consumer prices. Banana Link notes that in the past decade supermarkets have become a more significant part of the issue, helping drive wages down. Bananas in particular are becoming more important: Supermarkets are now the only players in the banana chain to consistently make profits from bananas, having dramatically increased their economic power in the banana chain in the last decade.