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Green life after cuttingClock not started
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Index / Supply Chains / Banana
Uzbekistan is 1 of 2 doubly landlocked countries in the world. Almost all of its bananas come from Ecuador. This is the route a banana takes, and the clock it races once it is cut.
Summary
Price
The value declared at the Uzbek border is lower than the price Ecuadorian growers are legally guaranteed. Importers in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan have said their real costs run about 150% above what the official statistics show. Freight, transit and ripening costs are not published.
Legs
Every leg of the chain, from the lab to the shop.
| Leg | From | To | What | How | Packed | Distance or time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lab, Guayaquil | Nursery, Los Ríos | Plantlets | Road | Trays* | About 50 km† | Not published |
| 2 | Nursery | Field | Young plants | Road or on foot | Poly bags | On or near the farm | Not published |
| 3 | Field | Packing plant | Bunches | Overhead cable* | Bagged bunches | On the farm | Not published |
| 4 | Packing plant | Guayaquil | Boxes | Truck | 22XU boxes, 19.5 kg | 1 to 2 days to loading | $7.50 a box |
| 5 | Guayaquil | Novorossiysk | Boxes | Reefer container ship | 40 ft reefer, about 1,080 boxes | About 13,800 km, 15 to 18 days† | $9.80 a box loaded |
| 6 | Novorossiysk | Tashkent | Boxes | Refrigerated truck | 13 to 14 °C | 3,400 to 3,800 km, 5 to 7 days | $0.30 a kg declared |
| 7 | Ripening room | Shops | Ripe boxes | Truck* | Boxes | Across Tashkent | 16,500 to 25,000 sum a kg |
Paperwork
The fruit cannot move without its papers. Some ride with the container, 1 goes ahead on its own, and some exist only as electronic filings. Each is checked at a set point on the route.
| Document | Issued by | When | What it proves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exporter registration | Ministry of Agriculture, Ecuador | Every 3 years | The company may export bananas under its brands |
| Grower contract | Grower and exporter, registered with the ministry | Before harvest | The grower is paid at least the $7.50 minimum per box |
| Packing list | Exporter | At packing | What is in each pallet: cartons, sizes, lot numbers |
| Phytosanitary certificate | Agrocalidad, after inspection | Before loading | The fruit meets the importing country's plant-health rules |
| Commercial invoice | Exporter | At sale | Price, quantity and the price term, here FOB |
| Export declaration (DAE) | Exporter, filed with Ecuadorian customs on ECUAPASS | Before loading | The goods have left Ecuador legally |
| Certificate of origin | Authorised body in Ecuador | Before loading | The bananas were grown in Ecuador |
| Bill of lading | Shipping line | On loading | The cargo is on board; whoever holds the original can claim it |
| Transit declaration or TIR carnet | Carrier or forwarder, with customs | At the Black Sea port | The goods cross Russia and Kazakhstan without being imported there |
| CMR road waybill | Road carrier | At the Black Sea port | The contract for the road trip and the condition of the load |
| Quarantine permit | Agency for Plant Quarantine and Protection, Uzbekistan | Before entry | The lot may enter, or cross, Uzbekistan |
| Registered import contract | Importer, in the customs single window | Before entry | The foreign trade deal is on record with customs |
| Customs declaration | Licensed broker for the importer | At the border | Duty (0%) and VAT (12%) assessed and paid |
FOB, free on board. The price at Guayaquil covers the fruit until it is loaded. From that moment the buyer pays the freight and carries the risk. That is why the $9.80 per box quoted on this page is a port price, not a delivered price.
Money
Goods and documents travel east. Money travels back west, in the opposite direction, and the bill of lading is what ties the 2 together: the buyer gets it, and so the container, once the exporter has been paid or a bank has promised payment.
Common payment terms in the fruit trade are a letter of credit, where the buyer’s bank promises to pay once the documents are presented; documents against payment, where the bank hands over the bill of lading only when the buyer pays; a straight transfer; or open account between partners who trust each other. Which terms Uzbek importers use with Ecuadorian exporters is not published.
The farm keeps 18 to 28% of the shelf price†. How much of that reaches the workers who cut and pack the fruit is not published.
Risk
| Where | Risk | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Field | Fusarium TR4 | A soil fungus that kills Cavendish plants and stays in the soil for decades. Confirmed on 2 farms in El Oro, December 2025 and July 2026. It reached Colombia in 2019, Peru in 2021 and Venezuela in 2023 |
| Field | Black sigatoka | A leaf fungus that cuts yields unless sprayed, about 28 times a year |
| Field | Weather | Heavier rains are forecast from November 2026 to January 2027, and El Oro has tightened its controls against the fungus ahead of them |
| Port | Drug searches | A container found with cocaine is held, and its fruit keeps ripening while it waits |
| Arrival | Pests | Lots with quarantine pests can be refused. Russia restricted 1 Ecuadorian exporter from 20 May 2026 after repeated finds, and briefly suspended several in 2024 |
| Road | Green life | The fruit reaches the ripening room on about day 23 to 30, at the end of its 25 to 30 days. A long wait at a port or border can push it past that point |
How much fruit is lost along this route is not published.
Carbon
Kilograms of CO₂ equivalent per kilogram of bananas, from 2 studies of Ecuadorian export bananas shipped to Europe. The farm and the voyage are the largest parts. The route on this page has a longer voyage and adds 3,400 to 3,800 km by road, so its figure will be higher. No study of this route was found.
Gaps
Sources