Gas price hikes and supply chain issues stemming from the Iran war are driving everyone bananas – including actual banana companies.
How a banana gets from a tree in Guatemala to a smoothie in your Magic Bullet is a delicate process – one that operates on thin margins and lots of energy, the New York Times reported this week.
Things have only gotten more complicated since the start of the Iran war in February, with Danny Dumas, the president of Del Monte North America, calling the situation a “crisis.”
Over the years, banana companies have developed a supply chain that is highly efficient and famously cheap, the Times noted. A single banana that’s packed with potassium can cost a mere 15 cents, but its cheap price is now under threat.
The Gray Lady tracked a shipment of millions of bananas from Central America to Pennsylvania, noting a number of bruising bumps in the fruit’s journey.
Diesel needed for fast deliveries on refrigerated tankers has gone up 70% since the beginning of the war.
The price of banana fertilizer that is made with natural gas from the Middle East has shot up, as well.
Tariffs have also been an issue, along with a truck driver shortage.
To top it off, the El Niño weather phenomenon is making shipping uncertain.
Tom Stenzel, the president of the Banana Association of North America seconded remarks that the combination of factors mark a crisis.
“That system is currently under growing pressure,” he told The Post.
Prices are currently locked in by contracts, but farmers are already carrying the brunt of the costs.
One producer told the Times that his costs jumped 5% from last year to this year. Costs have risen so much that some proactive farmers have already switched to a different yellow fruit.
Banana contract prices are set to expire in December. It’s not known how many grocers will let prices go up, according to the Times.
Costs were at a six-year high in 2025, at 67 cents per pound.
The hikes were largely attributed to tariffs on imports from Guatemala, Ecuador, Honduras, and Costa Rica that have since been lifted. Grocery store prices have risen across the board, though. The past August, banana costs were 2.2 percentage points higher than last year.
While prices of gas and tariff impacts continue to fluctuate, a long-term concern for the industry is coming from Mother Nature herself, in the form of Panama disease. The fungus completely wiped out a banana varietal known as the Gros Michel.
The disease has been threatening the world’s most popular banana, the Cavendish, for many years.
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