Ag chief: Scarcity of bananas due to shipping company logistics

Agriculture Secretary Ramón González Beiró

By THE STAR STAFF

Agriculture Secretary Ramón González Beiró said Monday that the lack of bananas in local markets was because of the logistics of the shipping companies and that the bananas that have arrived have been few and very expensive.

“The method that was used was the same that every entrepreneur would use. We went there, the farms were certified, the product was purchased and the shipping companies all know about the problems that exist in maritime transportation,” the agriculture secretary said in response to questions from reporters. “Once the product arrives here, it is a product that normally does not … create a blockage, [or] additional workload to the customs service and the agricultural inspection service.”

“And we added that in the second shipment some containers contained some insects, insects that exist in Puerto Rico, but the federal rule is that they must be fumigated, and that caused a much bigger bottleneck, which was what delayed the dispatch of the green bananas,” González Beiró added. “In the case of bananas, there is a situation that if you read in the international press, we have not gotten enough bananas to bring from the Dominican Republic in the week of Christmas,” the official continued. “We had a work team visiting the entire republic, from north to south, from east to west, and the reality is that if you see the press, the Dominican Republic has the same shortage of bananas, mainly because of some tornadoes, [Hurricane] Fiona and consumption.”

“The few bananas that there were, were quoted to us at very exorbitant prices,” González Beiró said.