Banana prices to moderate in next 2-3 months: report

Increased supplies pulling down prices in the market; however trend might change from May

Banana prices in India, the world’s largest producer, is expected to moderate in the next couple of months because of increased supplies, but might again show a rising trend from May onwards, a recent report showed.

According to the Quarterly Agricultural Outlook of National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER)  prepared for the department of agriculture, production of banana in 2012-13 (July-June) is expected to be around 31.9 million tonnes, marginally more than 31.2 million tonnes produced last year. Banana is full year crop.

“Although, overall monsoon conditions were not favourable to the crop, the trend increase in area is expected to drive output growth. Demand for bananas in the domestic market and also for exports is strong, but yields are stagnating over the years which might lead to demand-supply imbalances,” the report said.

On prices, the report said that seasonal patterns show that banana prices moderate from December to March and thereafter rise from May to November, due to which retail price of banana is expected to moderate in the next 2-3 months.