Banana prices starting to slip

By Shaun Inguanzo
CASEY greengrocers have hit back at customer claims that they are exploiting the current banana crisis by pushing up prices.
Owner of the Farmers’ Market store in Narre Warren, Ray Ferrier, said the price of bananas was slowly dropping and they were always shopping around to find the best price from suppliers.
The store has pinned newspaper articles next to its fruit stand to explain the impact the cyclones have had on banana prices.
Mr Ferrier said it was difficult to source bananas anywhere else but Queensland, and they had taken to selling bananas in singles instead of hands following the price rise.
“Everyone thinks you can just get them somewhere else, but you can’t. There is not that many to go around,” he said.
Mr Ferrier said it was not just consumers being affected by the cyclone.
Farmers had also been hit hard and many market workers had lost their jobs, he said.
When the News visited the store on Tuesday, the price of bananas had dropped from $8.99 a kilogram to $5.99 as the store had been able to obtain some boxes for $50 instead of the usual $100 or more.
However, Mr Ferrier said he was not sure how long the lower price would last.
Cranbourne Park Fruit Market manager John Ozkul said people were still buying bananas, priced at $9.99 at the store, and would continue to do so, but in smaller bunches of twos and threes.
“When people ask ‘how much are your bananas?’ we say ‘ have you got your credit card?’,” Mr Ozkul said.
“A lot of the time the supermarkets can’t get them so we sell more.
“The quality is still good and they still taste good, but there might be some marked ones.”
Mr Ozkul said people stealing bananas was definitely an issue but not so much in their store as they had security cameras and the bananas were kept well inside.
He said stores where the bananas were kept outside reported more thefts.
When the News visited a local Safeway, there were no bananas at all.
Bananas were selling at Coles for $11.98 with a note that due to Cyclone Larry, banana crops had been affected and would be in short supply.
At nearby Dandenong, the situation is different with the market rife with banana thieves who have pressured traders to take lengthy security measures to protect their valuable stock.
Market greengrocers this week said people had resorted to stealing bananas since prices rocketed from $2 to $11 per kilo when cyclones wiped out 80 per cent of the nation’s crops in March.
Prima Produce stallholder John Giarrusso said the thefts had convinced him to secure his stock behind the checkout and keep most of it boxed up and out of sight.
“Customers are not happy at all. We have had to lower our banana standards such as the size to sell them affordably.”
L and A Farmer stallholder Lucas Farmer said the supply crisis meant market-goers were paying no less than $8 per kilo and up to $11, compared with $2 per kilo before the cyclones.
He said banana growers in other states were profiteering from the supply crisis by giving their best stock to the highest bidder, and leaving the “little guy”, and ultimately market-goers, with poor quality stock.
Australian Banana Growers’ Council president Patrick Leahy this week said he couldn’t rule out profiteering in the banana industry.