As of December 1, Argentine importers of Bolivian bananas were supposed to pay off the entire debt of $ 12 million in the US, and to date, they have yet to do so. According to the agreement signed before the general elections, it was established that 1 million dollars would be deposited daily until the debt was completed to lift the blockade that was being carried out in Yacuiba. $US $3 million had been paid initially, and the rest was agreed to be paid in instalments.

About 1,000 hectares of banana plantations located in the village of Isletas, in Sonaguera, Colón, Honduras, were reclaimed on November 23 after peasant groups invaded them a month ago. The eviction of the 300 families who had taken the land was peaceful and obeyed an order of a judge in Tegucigalpa after executives of the agricultural company Santa Inés, a subsidiary of Standard Fruit of Honduras, owner of the farms, filed the corresponding complaint.

The Association of Banana Producer Organizations of the Canary Islands (ASPROCAN) has awarded Leopoldo Cólogan the Honorary Insignia of Plátano de Canarias in recognition and gratitude for his work in defence of the sector in his career, highlighting his position as:

Danish shipping company A.P. Moller Maersk's green methanol arm C2X has bought land in Huelva, southern Spain, to build a green methanol facility with a potential capacity of 1 million metric tons/year, C2X said in a recent statement. The production facility will be located in the port of Huelva. The green methanol will be supplied to the shipping sector as a bunker fuel.

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Banana selling prices in St Petersburg were USD 22.40-24.70 per box CIF, according to brand, volume and type of packing, an increase compared to the previous week, notwithstanding a weak demand. In week 47, nearly 1.55 million boxes were discharged, and around 1.48 million are expected for week 48. The effect on the market remains to be seen as some specialised reefer vessels loaded in Ecuador are heading to St Petersburg, taking the longer route through the Magellan Strait due to the troubles at the Panama Canal.

As low water levels limit movement across the Panama Canal, a potential solution is in the works to mitigate the effects of future droughts on the region. The Canal's board of directors submitted a proposal to the Panamanian government to advance the process of pursuing a set of solutions, some of which fall outside of the Canal's watershed, a Panama Canal Authority spokesperson told the press.

CMA CGM is set to become the first primary carrier to apply a new surcharge on shipments transiting the Panama Canal in response to the ongoing capacity reductions. The world's third-largest shipping line said the reduced capacity measures introduced by the waterway authority this year – and forecast to continue into 2024 – were pushing up its costs.

Through a note to its customers, Maersk announced that it will move its services from the Contecon Guayaquil terminal to DP World Posorja in 2024. The company indicated that these are the Ecumed services that connect Ecuador with Europe, the AC2 with Asia and the Guayaquil Feeder, which consists of an intra-American route.

Bolivia's Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade, Benjamín Blanco, announced the lifting of the blockade on the Yacuiba international bridge, on the border with Argentina, after receiving a first payment of 30% of the $US 12 million owed by that country to Bolivian banana producers.

Chile's Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) will soon send a technical delegation to oversee the inspection of Paraguayan bananas as part of the process to allow the import of this fruit. It was confirmed by the technical general director of the National Service of Plant and Seed Quality and Health (Senave), Alfredo Gryciuk, after the recent visit to Chile by a Paraguayan delegation led by the head of the institution to familiarise themselves with the phytosanitary controls of this market.

Argentine banana growers from the province of Formosa, grouped in the Sol y Campo Cooperative, began to sell in the Central Market of Buenos Aires thanks to the high demand for the fruit after Bolivia and Paraguay stopped exporting to Argentina due to lack of payment. Pánfilo Ayala, President of the Laguna Naineck Branch of the FAA and banana producer,

By 2024, the Colombian banana sector will have a significant growth projection thanks to the European Union's environmental, social, and labour sustainability requirements being met without any problem. It was pointed out by the President of Augura, Emerson Aguirre, who explained that, for example, the jobs are 100% formal, and 92% are unionised and comply with the living wage in more than 111%.

Rodolphe Saade, the CEO of CMA-CGM, the world's third-largest container line, has cautioned that the shipping industry is set to face turbulence due to new vessels ordered during the shipping boom of the pandemic, entering service in 2024. Addressing concerns at an event in Paris to celebrate the establishment of a non-profit AI research lab supported by his family-controlled company based in Marseille, Saade highlighted the challenge in the sector due to the influx of container ships in the coming year, potentially creating an imbalance between supply and demand.