Photo: Japan Today
business

Philippines asks Japanese consumers to accept higher prices for bananas

64 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© KYODO

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

64 Comments
Login to comment

That's fine. Market forces determine prices. But when the supermarket whack another x% on the price, for their own profit, thats when people get unhappy.

25 ( +30 / -5 )

.57 a pound at HEB ,has some banana pudding

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

Are most of the bananas in Japan from the Philippines? I’ve never really paid much attention because they all look and taste the same anyway. My guess is that Japan will not pay for the price increase and go with the Latin/ South American bananas instead.

-19 ( +3 / -22 )

Gaijinjland

Today 07:03 am JST

Are most of the bananas in Japan from the Philippines? I’ve never really paid much attention because they all look and taste the same anyway. My guess is that Japan will not pay for the price increase and go with the Latin/ South American bananas instead

And you think that this will be cheaper? The freight cost has increased so getting those products from a long distance will cost more. Clearly you think to easily.

28 ( +30 / -2 )

The Philippine government wants Japan to understand that a hike is urgent to offset rising costs, partly due to the coronavirus pandemic and Russia's war on Ukraine, as farmers in the Philippines are hardly reaping profits.

Is the virus and Ukraine the reason Philippine agricultural workers are impoverished?

Or is it the hereditary land owners of estates in the Philippines who are seeing a dip in their profit margins?

6 ( +16 / -10 )

All those covid payouts led to this bleak world we live in now. The largest transfer of wealth in the history of human kind...

3 ( +10 / -7 )

Didn’t we just give millions of dollars in aid and in return, we have to pay more for bananas, which just grow on trees?

-5 ( +12 / -17 )

150yen for ONE banana? Where did they find this?

I pay less than 90yen for a whole bunch at my local shotengai here in Tokyo

22 ( +29 / -7 )

I do not seperate a banana family,I keep them together at the stem

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

If the cost of production goes up the price to the consumer inevitably must also. It may be delayed for a while but eventually it will rise.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Are most of the bananas in Japan from the Philippines? I’ve never really paid much attention because they all look and taste the same anyway. My guess is that Japan will not pay for the price increase and go with the Latin/ South American bananas instead

Taiwanese bananas are another popular holding a big share here in Japan, slightly more expensive than the Philippines' , but taste better.

My best banana is not anything imported as Japan bans ripe bananas from coming into the domestic market. The best buy is a local one. I once ate ripe bananas in Taipei which were tremendously good.

-11 ( +1 / -12 )

"Philippines asks Japanese consumers to accept higher prices for bananas"

Hmmm, the politically hapless people of the Philippines had better be careful what they ask for of a U.S. dominated polity when the issue is 'babanas', particularly given the history of 'bananas' in 20th Century U.S. foreign policy.

Bananas makes one think of the "Banana Wars" and the United Fruit Company when Central American peasant banana farmers asked for a better price for their fruit and the U.S. responded with deadly invasions by U.S. Marines to 'quell' disobedient farmers and politicians. In fact, the country of Panama was originally a part of Columbia but, in an action very much resembling what we are seeing in Ukraine today, declared Panama a 'breakaway' province and defeated Columbia so that the U.S. might have sole sovereignty over the Panama Canal.

From the time of the corrupt Roosevelt, Theodore, to the even more corrupt Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (Delano family made rich through Opium smuggling into China), the U.S. waged almost continuous warfare upon the poor people of the Caribbean, and Central and northern South Americans, peasants, for the benefit of American Corporations. One of the greatest Marines ever who served in those wars, MajGen Smedley Darlington Butler, a Quaker by descent, wrote "War Is a Racket! My thirty-three years as a thug for Capitalism" which is a 'Must Read' for anyone even mildly interested in U.S. history.

So, People of the Phillipines, be careful what you ask for because the response may not be what you can possibly imagine...

1 ( +11 / -10 )

Japan has truly become poor! Inflation is crushing the country.

-11 ( +13 / -24 )

Give 'em a hand.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

One of the greatest Marines ever who served in those wars, MajGen Smedley Darlington Butler, a Quaker by descent, wrote "War Is a Racket!

Props just for the mentioning of Smedley Butler in the context of the Philippines and the legacy of American imperialism and his seminal work.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

I thought that Bananas were always cheap and underpriced, it's only fair that the prices will increase, I buy mines at about 150 ~ 190 yen for 3 or 4 pieces and it is cheap.

2 ( +8 / -6 )

Stop wrapping them. That'll bring the cost down.

21 ( +25 / -4 )

I ate their bananas, not good.

-12 ( +4 / -16 )

I saw this on the TV news last month (?)

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Why is it in a bag? You can stick labels on the banana skin, you know. You could even print directly on the banana skin.

17 ( +20 / -3 )

No thanks, you can shove your overpacked, overpriced bananas.

-5 ( +8 / -13 )

GaijinjlandToday  07:03 am JST

Are most of the bananas in Japan from the Philippines?

Wouldn't say "most". Both Philippine and Ecuador bananas are usually sold.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

buy mexican ones taste much better...

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

My guess is it will be a slight increase then supermarkets will double the increase. Not much of a problem I will end up saving around 260 yen a week since I will just stop buying them.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Here's statistical info about bananas in Japan.

https://www.kudamononavi.com/graph/category/ca=31

The Philippines predominates the market at 75%, followed by Ecuador and Mexico, 13 and 7% respectively.

I am rather amazed that homeland bananas are grown in Okinawa and Kagoshima.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

I do not seperate a banana family,I keep them together at the stem

Yrral, you got it. Separate a banana from its family and it soon goes bad. Family values first.

Re the price hike … resist pressure from Big Banana!

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Yet since 2015, banana prices in Japan have remained flat at around 260 yen. 

For a bunch (4-5) of Philippine bananas I pay between 98 and 135 yen in pretty much every large chain super market chain in Tokyo.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Anonymous,I talking at the supermarket,I always try to get five banana,I not the one banana person

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Septim DynastyToday  07:59 am JST

Japan has truly become poor! Inflation is crushing the country.

Among the Western developed countries Japan has a very low inflation rate. They started 2022 with one of the lowest in the world.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/inflation-rate-by-country

6 ( +12 / -6 )

Does Marcos Jr. (Bong Bong) own any banana plantations???

3 ( +4 / -1 )

If it helps the average Pinoy, no problem. I will gladly pay.

1 ( +7 / -6 )

Everyone is going bananas!!

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Local store I buy fruits and veggies from aleady raised prices of bananas for some time now, 28% , before taxes.

From 100 to 128 yen for a 4 or 5 small sized bunch

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

そんなバナナ/sonna banana

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

I am not paying 1 yen over 98 yen for a bunch of 5!

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Does Marcos Jr. (Bong Bong) own any banana plantations???

That's the more likely reason to you for the rising prices of bananas?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

That's the more likely reason to you for the rising prices of bananas?

Could be any reason as a matter of fact.

What should be reaching the average Filipino banana farmer is going to end up in someone else's pocket.

Go figure.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I feel like the price has already gone up.

But they usually range from 100 to 300 yen for a bunch depending on size and brand so you can always just buy the cheaper ones. Healthier and cheaper than most other fruits.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Bananas are cheap and people are dirt poor there, so as long as the poor are getting the money maybe that’s not so bad, but, unfortunately, they’re probably not.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

People are complaining about a little increase in prices for bananas. But 1 piece of melon for 10,000 yen or more is ok.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

> That's the more likely reason to you for the rising prices of bananas?

> Could be any reason as a matter of fact.

So the reasons cited in the article, same ones for the rising prices of everything else aren't the more likely reasons for the rise in price of bananas.

Got it

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

So the reasons cited in the article, same ones for the rising prices of everything else aren't the more likely reasons for the rise in price of bananas.

Got it

Meh.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

If it helps the average Pinoy,

Pinoy is a RACIST way to refer to a Filipino. Like calling a Japanese by the first 3 letters only.

-22 ( +2 / -24 )

The Philippines producers should just go ahead and seek alternative purchasers. Being dependent on a single buyer market in Japan is not good for business.

Prices are supposed to be set freely, not agreed by collusion in discussions between parties.

Free market prices signals will indicate how much to produce and to whom the produce ought be sold.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

Pinoy is a RACIST way to refer to a Filipino. 

*Wiki: "Pinoy was used for self-identification by the first wave of Filipinos going to the continental United States before World War II and has been used both in a pejorative sense and as a term of endearment...", *

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinoy

11 ( +14 / -3 )

 both in a pejorative sense and as a term of endearment...", *

you think he was using it as a sense of endearment?

-20 ( +2 / -22 )

and from YOUR link...

In the United States, the earliest published usage known is a **Philippine Republic article written in January 1924 by Dr. J. Juliano, a member of the faculty of the Schurz school in Chicago – "Why does a Pinoy take it as an insult to be taken for a Shintoist or a Confucian?" and "What should a Pinoy do if he is addressed as a Chinese or a CHap?"[7][10]**

-18 ( +0 / -18 )

Had to change the last word as JT won't allow it even as a reference

go figure

-15 ( +1 / -16 )

Philippine CHEAP banana come on!!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Pinoy does not mean banana.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Why not? I'm sure when the price of Japanese cars or electronics goes up, the consumers there will have to deal with the increase, right?

0 ( +4 / -4 )

say thank you KISHIDA for the inflation!

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

Japan and the Phillipines were friends, right? Japan should take care this humble little friend and her needs!

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Sounds like an inaugural scam from the grifting Marcos clan. Philippine banana workers are unlikely to see even a cent of any price increase.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Well it's a competitive market... And if you have no better choice then....

Also had no idea Pinoy was derogatory, could have swore a Filipino friend refered to themselves at that. Perhaps like the n word, we throw it around like it's nothing but if you use it then it's sensitive and outrageous.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Isn't it possible to grow bananas in Japan's southern islands?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

No problem paying a little more. Bananas are cheap enough as it is. Always buy the under 100 yen ones at Aeon stores. I actually think the small, cheap ones from the Philippines taste the best. If I can, I buy the half price ones which are nice and ripe which is how I like them. Overripe ones get made into banana bread!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

They throw single banana away,if they are not on the stem with their family, poor orphan banana

1 ( +2 / -1 )

On one thesis i did in college - "PH mango in JP market" . I have noted one gatekeeper for produce imports in JPN are the supermarkets and their demand for extremely high quality (spotless, perfect shape, bright color, high margin, etc.) standards. Breaking into the JP market is akin to going through an eye of a needle. The request of the PH envoy seems reasonable and can easily be observed; the prices of imported fruits like Kiwi from New Zealand, Red Globe grapes from Chile, avocados from Mexico, orange, lemons. grapefruit from the US - are significantly higher at the same weight and volume. Transit costs based on distance of the sources does not equate to these price differences. This is beyond the law of supply and demand, because there is an authority in JPN that can control the prices of the goods.

On another note; "Pinoy" or "Pinay" are not derogatory terms for a Filipino - its the context of its use that change its meaning.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Within reason, sure I can pay more, but not within reason, I will not buy your bananas.

I will eat rice and fish, and fuki.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

They throw single banana away,if they are not on the stem with their family, poor orphan banana

Yrral, there was a Beatles song about this very problem … I think. “My banana gently weeps”?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Yet since 2015, banana prices in Japan have remained flat at around 260 yen.

1 banana in Australia at Coles is average 63 cents AUD, 57.9 yen, or $3.50 kg which is about 322 yen kg. Perhaps you should be importing Aussie banana's?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites