When you look at the cost it takes to produce bananas, it’s lower than other fruit, like berries, and they’re also less perishable, Ribera added.īananas are also sometimes deliberately priced lower than what’s profitable as a way to attract customers. “Most of the bananas that we consume are imported because they're grown in a tropical climate,” he said. The banana is also a highly productive plant, a result of centuries of selection and breeding,” explained John Soluri, an associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon and the author of “Banana Cultures: Agriculture, Consumption, and Environmental Change in Honduras and the United States.”Īmerica’s top banana suppliers include Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Ecuador and Mexico, said Luis Ribera, a professor and economist at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. agriculture do not earn much, farmers and workers in places like Ecuador and Guatemala earn even less. “The short answer is basically labor costs: even though workers in U.S. Easy to grow, low labor costs, and additional markdownsīelieve it or not, but bananas were once seen as a delicacy in the 19th century. in 2021, with more than 13 pounds available for consumption per person, according to data from the U.S. They were the most consumed fresh fruit in the U.S. Welcome news for our pocketbooks, given how much Americans love bananas. Ricky Volpe, an associate professor in the agribusiness department at California Polytechnic State University, crunched the numbers, and found that banana prices have fallen 31% over the past 30 years.Īnd then there is Trader Joe’s, which has famously priced its bananas at 19 cents apiece for decades. Labor Department data shows that the average price for a pound of bananas stood at almost 63 cents back in May, cheaper than other grocery items such as lemons ($2.24), tomatoes ($1.80), and potatoes ($1.01).Īnd when controlling their price for inflation, they’ve gone down over time. Why do bananas cost less than other items at the grocery store? They have to be harvested and shipped just like other fruits, yet they are incredibly inexpensive.Ī few quarters will get you an entire pound of bananas, making them one of the cheapest items in the produce aisle. Ī listener, who wanted to remain anonymous, asks: ![]() Ever wondered if recycling is worth it ? Or how store brands stack up against name brands? Check out more from the series here. ![]() This is just one of the stories from our “I’ve Always Wondered” series, where we tackle all of your questions about the world of business, no matter how big or small.
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