Floods push up the price of bananas

Banana prices are rising in Britain’s shops after floods wiped out crops in the Caribbean.

Waitrose has become the first supermarket to charge more, with Sainsbury’s, Tesco and asda expected to follow.

Waitrose said that inflation linked to the fall in sterling’s value had also pushed up import costs.

It increased the price of a kilogram of loose bananas from 72p to 75p.

Poor weather and flooding in key growing areas such as Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic have hit crops in the past few months.

analysts Mintec said UK import prices for bananas have risen nearly 18 per cent in a year.

alistair Smith, of fair trade organisation Banana Link, told The Grocer magazine serious flooding in the Dominican Republic in november destroyed about a third of the crop in the Dominican Republic.

He said: Waitrose sources its bananas there and Costa Rica so this could be a contributing factor.’

Banana Link has long campaigned for a rise in shop prices, claiming the supermarkets were putting too much pressure on supply chains.

Mr Smith said: ‘This price increase is a step in the right direction and means growers will lose less money per box.’

Bananas have been a key battleground in supermarkets for more than two years, with the price dropping to just 68p a kilo.