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.

A shipment of Queensland bananas and melons to Japan aims to support an analysis of how shipping conditions impact the fruits. Queensland's Department of Agriculture and Fisheries has been working with industry partners for four years to analyse the impact of shipping and supply chain conditions such as storage temperature and ripening conditions on the appearance and flavour of the fruit. Pacific Coast Produce has shipped red-wax-tipped Ecoganic bananas to Japan as part of the trial, and Daintree Fresh has shipped Emperor's Pearl melons.

The recognition corresponds to the Ecuador Zero Carbon Program (PECC) of the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Ecological Transition, which the company adhered to in 2021, in line with its robust decarbonisation plan. DP World Posorja is one of the 28 strategic partners of this flagship environmental program, where the Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition recognises organisations that quantify, reduce, and offset their CO2 emissions.

The Ministry of Transport and Public Works of Ecuador reported that the construction work of Pier 6 of Puerto Bolívar is close to completion. This after announcing an advance of 9,5%. What has been achieved to date includes an investment of USD 180,700,000, consisting of the materialisation of a container yard, refrigeration warehouse and access roads. In this way, Pier 6 will be able to "receive larger vessels, allow access to new shipping lines, and diversify export and import cargo," according to the Ecuadorian ministry.

A new warehouse site in Rotterdam, uniquely located within APM Terminals' facility at Maasvlakte II, is set to make tremendous advances for the global trade community. The new cross-dock warehouse is being built at the APM Terminal facility at Maasvlakte II within the Port of Rotterdam. The port is located at the mouth of the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt River delta, making it a natural gateway to and from Europe.

Note that the Growers/Exporters have been arranged in group: Dizon Group: FS Dizon&Sons, FranPac Agri-Business,Inc. and Highland Agri-Venture, Lorenzo Group: Lapanday Agri. & Dev. Corp., Lead Export, Lapanday Foods Corp / Anflo Group: Tagum Agr. Dev.Co., Anflo Banana Corp. (Worldwide Dev. Corp.) / Stanfilco a Div of Dole Phils. / Sarangani Agr.Co.Inc., - a corporate grower of Stanfilco / Sumifrut / Marsman Drysdale Group: Marsman Estate Plt. Others would be: Vizcaya Pltn., TRAIN, Nader & Ebrahim S/O Hassan Phils., Mt. Kitanglad Agri-Ventures, Inc., Greenhope Agri-Dev., Corp., Mindanao Agri Banana Ventures Corp., MA Sharbatly / Del Monte is a special member. Source: Pilipino Banana Growers & Exporters Association

According to the country's leading business association, the roadblocks initiated almost one month ago in Panama against a controversial mining contract have caused losses of 1.7 billion dollars. The protests erupted on October 20 when Congress approved a contract signed by the government allowing Canadian company First Quantum Minerals to operate the largest open-pit copper mine in Central America for 40 years.

Carriers are driving the rates' race to the bottom' they warned would lead to a "dire situation" in 2024 – Maersk singled out as one of the worst offenders. Announcing the Group's third-quarter flop last week, the Danish carrier's CEO, Vincent Clerc, told investors that the coming year would prove difficult for ocean shipping without an uptick on the spot market in the final three months.

The insecurity and lack of guarantees to continue with banana exports, Ecuador's main non-oil exports, has led the Banana Cluster to undertake a campaign to defend the interests of the production chain. José Antonio Hidalgo, the inter-union coordinator of the Plantain and Banana Cluster of Ecuador, said at a press conference that, in the last six months, they have identified estimated losses of around 280 thousand dollars per quarter, due to robberies in the plantain and banana sector.

According to the company's release, Hapag-Lloyd has concluded the first nine months of 2023 with a Group EBIT of USD 4.5 billion (EUR 4.2 billion) and a Group EBIT of USD 3.0 billion (EUR 2.8 billion). The Group's profit stood at USD 3.4 billion (EUR 3.2 billion). These results are significantly below the prior-year level due to the severe change in market conditions.

Banana growers in the departments of Magdalena and La Guajira have been declared on red alert, as criminal groups have attacked them to pressure extortion payment, according to the country's banana growers' associations. On Tuesday, November 14, armed men broke into two farms, intimidating workers and setting fires, one in the village of Comejenes, Riohacha, and the other in the municipality of Zona Bananera, in Magdalena.