Historical Notes of Banana
Bananas figs produced by sun drying ripe bananas may be one of the oldest processed food products.
After banana figs, the next processed banana products were apparently dehydrated flakes and power.
In 1944, the total volume of USA imports peaked to around 5200 ton per year, followed by a decline in 2 years to less than half that amount.
In 1940s Ecuador was not a large exporter of banana flakes but is now the world’s largest supplier, mostly from the Confoco plant near Machala in the southern banana growing region.
Banana puree is at present the highest volume processed banana product. The United Fruit Company (now Chiquita) pioneered the production of aseptic banana puree at a plant on the north shore of the Dominican Republic near the town of Pepillo Salcedo.
India has made several efforts to enter the processed bananas market in the US most of which seem failed, but in Europe and other market, some progress has been made.
Banana production in India has traditionally revolved around the monsoon rains and replanting every year mostly on small farms.
As long as this situation persists, it will be hard for India to compete with the comparatively sophisticated large farm agriculture of the Latin America major exporting countries.
Indonesia has installed a modern banana processing plant by judging by US import statistics it has had no significant effect on the US market. With the large populations of countries like China and India nearby, Indonesia may not need to export to the US to maintain healthy levels of processed banana production.
Historical Notes of Banana
