THE WORLD'S LARGEST BANANA COMPANY

The two biggest banana companies of the world , US-based Chiquita and Fyffes of Ireland have agreed to

work together and become the largest supplier of bananas. The new company , called Chiquita Fyffes will

have its headquarters in the US but will work out of Dublin because of tax reasons. The new banana

company is worth one billion dollars on the world's stock exchanges will sell products worth over $4

billion a year. Each partner will hold about half of the shares. Chiquita Fyffes is expected to trade 16

billion bananas every year, about 14% of the world's banana market.

According to spokesmen of both companies the aim of the merger is to save over 40 million dollars in

costs. Apart from bananas the new company also deals with pineapples and other fruits. It will have a total

of over 32,000 employees.

Fyffes was founded in 1929 and rose to become Europe's largest importer of bananas.  Chiquita dates back

to the end of the 19th century and helped fruit become popular in America. For customers around the

world there will, however, be no change, as the two companies will still market their own brands.

Some food experts criticize the deal, saying that both companies rely too much on only one type of banana,

the Cavendish. This leaves the industry prone to diseases that could hit the banana plantations in South

America and Africa.

Another worry is that the new company might dictate and lower banana prices, thus reducing income for

banana farmers.
 

The banana war is the longest running trade dispute in the world. The conflict centres on
bananas that are imported to the European Union.

In the 1950s and 60s European colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific region
(known as ACP countries) became independent. In the 1970s the European Union started to
let the Caribbean countries export bananas to European countries without putting tariffs on
them. This was supposed to help these countries with their economies. Some of them only
had bananas and other farming goods to export. On the other side the European Union placed
a tax on bananas that came from other countries, including the large banana-producing
countries of Central and South America, like Ecuador and Honduras. The ACP countries,
therefore, were able bring cheaper bananas to Europe.
Over the past decades this has led to a growing dispute between Latin American countries
and the European Union. The banana-exporting countries think it is unfair to put tariffs on
their bananas and not on the products coming from the ACP countries. The United States also
got involved in the conflict, because the big banana producers in South America are large
American companies, like Del Monte or Dole.

After years of talks there finally seems to be an end to the banana war. The European Union
has agreed to slowly reduce its tariffs on Latin American bananas. Instead of paying 176
Euros for a ton of bananas that are exported to the EU these countries will only have to pay
114 Euros per ton in the next years.