What's up with the bananas in Taiwan lately?

[quote=“belgian pie”][quote=“smell the glove”] … very QQ.

[/quote]

??? :astonished: … what the hell is very QQ[/quote]

See here (about 4 posts down): forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … &start=230

Had one today. It looked F*cked up but it tasted anything but. Same good Taiwanese banana.

This is all I have to say about the topic:

:banana:

Bananas are an 'erb.

I had something about fruits in tecnical colledge.

I was going to be a engineer on a ship and therfor we had to learn about some fruit in case we was hired on a bannana ship.

If you want to keep your bannanas good the best temperature is 12 degree celsius. higher temperature they will exspire quicly and lower and they will turn black.

It’s actually the other way round. This year’s seen a bumper harvest, so we’re probably getting bad bananas because they can’t be sold fast enough. I’ve seen pictures of the premier munching bananas in his office and the DPP leadership stuffing themselves with bananas during breaks in party meetings to promote the sale of bananas. And then there’s the banana-gobbling of prison inmates

[quote=“belgian pie”][quote=“Erhu”]
So, what’s up? Is this a bad year for bananas in Asia? I just got back from NYC and they had good bananas there. Why can’t I get good bananas here too? This banana problem is seriously affecting my quality of life. Who wants to eat Cranberry Almond Crunch cereal without sliced fresh bananas?

Anybody else notice this recent banana situation? Anyone know where there are some good bananas to be gotten?
[/quote]

America (US) ownes probably all banana plantations in Central and south america, so does Europe in Africa … and the bananas there are crossbred to get the best of the best … in Taiwan they just pick what nature grows … or something … and importing these the foreign bananas into Taiwan is sooo expensive in import duty that they just can’t compete with the Taiwanese banana[/quote]

They wouldn’t be able to compete for flavor either. Imported bananas must be picked green in their native land. Thefalvor is just not allowed to develop. No way you can compare imported CA bananas to the fresh ones you get here.

Smell the Glove: I like your story but is it really possible to grow banana trees so fast? I mean can you just plant new trees and expect a crop in a few months to take advantage of a sudden undersupply in the market.

[quote=“sjcma”][quote=“belgian pie”][quote=“smell the glove”] … very QQ.

[/quote]

??? :astonished: … what the hell is very QQ[/quote]

See here (about 4 posts down): forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … &start=230[/quote]

Yesterday in Neiwan they took it one step further … QQQ :laughing:

There’s a banana crisis in Australia, home of the most expensive bananas in the world, apparently.

HG

[quote]No bananas for nine months
By Jason Koutsoukis
March 26, 2006

You may soon have to fly to New Zealand to satisfy your craving for the nation’s top-selling grocery item, the banana.

Coles and Woolworths said yesterday supplies would run out in days, after cyclone Larry last week wiped out 90 per cent of the banana crop.

As prices raced towards A$6 a kilogram, Coles spokesman Jim Cooper said supplies were dwindling fast.

“We’re still trying to get an accurate assessment of the damage from our suppliers, but we know a lot of them have been wiped out and we don’t expect supplies to last beyond the end of the week,” he said.

Woolworths spokeswoman Claire Buchanan said supplies at Safeway supermarkets would not last more than a few days.

And the Federal Government’s ban on banana imports means Australians face going without their favourite food for the next nine months.

With Australians consuming 15 million bananas a week, the supply crisis is expected to put pressure on the Government to overturn the ban, a move opposed by the nation’s 1850 banana growers.

The growers and their employees wield a huge influence in a string of marginal Coalition-held seats along the Queensland and NSW coasts, a constituency the Howard Government is keen to protect.

But with such high consumer demand for bananas, lobbying has begun to overturn the ban.

At least one major supermarket chain requested imports be allowed on the same day cyclone Larry hit.

On Wednesday morning, the Philippines — which produces 12 per cent of world banana exports — also approached the Government, offering help to make sure Australians did not go without their bananas. Both requests were rejected.

Banana imports are banned because of the risk of exotic pests. Federal Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran said there was “absolutely no prospect” of the ban being lifted. He said banana lovers should show sympathy for growers ruined by cyclone Larry.

“People will have to understand that their unsatisfied yearnings for bananas are infinitesimal compared to the suffering and hardship of the banana growers of north Queensland.” “We all have to put it into that context and bear the pain for the next nine to 12 months.”

The banana supply crisis is even threatening relations between Australia and the Philippines, which has been trying since 1999 to export bananas to Australia.

Quarantine agency Biosecurity Australia is expected to release another draft import risk analysis report on Philippines bananas later this year.

Philippines agriculture attache Maria Albarece told The Sunday Age it was “time Australians be allowed to enjoy the most delicious bananas in the world”.

“This has been an extremely frustrating process, but we continue to try and be patient and comply with the Australian Government’s strict procedures,” she said. “Hopefully, one day soon, we will be able to win the argument.”

Centre for International Economics economist Brent Borrell, an expert on the world banana market, said it was widely believed Australia was using the quarantine argument as a non-tariff trade barrier.

Mr Borrell successfully represented Ecuador in its fight before the World Trade Organisation to open up the European banana market.

“It is true that there is a lot of sniggering in Geneva (WTO headquarters) whenever Australia speaks up in favour of free trade yet maintains these effective trade barriers to products such as apples and bananas,” he said.

He said Australia had among the most expensive bananas in the world, and countries such as the Philippines and Ecuador could put the fruit on Australian tables for half price.

Australian Banana Growers Council chief executive Tony Heidrich said consumers should not yet panic.

“Bananas will be available, albeit in very, very small quantities,” he said. "

“They will definitely become a luxury, but I just urge everyone to support our growers … and be assured that all of them are working to get bananas back as soon as possible.”[/quote]

It’s actually the other way round. This year’s seen a bumper harvest, so we’re probably getting bad bananas because they can’t be sold fast enough. I’ve seen pictures of the premier munching bananas in his office and the DPP leadership stuffing themselves with bananas during breaks in party meetings to promote the sale of bananas. And then there’s the banana-gobbling of prison inmates…[/quote]

smell the glove. I think I just found your banana jokes right here… Have fun with them.

I have been very disappointed by bananas in the stores, but I thought it was because of the blight. I didn’t realize it was because I was eating unwanted produce. I tried to use one to make a banana mayonnaise sandwich and I couldn’t finish it because the banana was too overripe and I felt grossed out trying to eat it. A firm banana, one that has just turned yellow, actually makes for the best banana mayonnaise sandwiches. Maybe I haven’t outgrown my taste for those sandwiches. Maybe it was the banana and not me.

A perennial 'erb at that. And to think that many people say banana “trees.”

Well, in many parts of the world they inject the stalks with gibberellin A4A7 to delay ripening for two weeks or so, but I have no idea if that’s the practice here.

Egads.

Not my story - I’m not a reporter for TVBS. One of the articles I was summarizing is here: http://www.tvbs.com.tw/news/news_list.asp?no=blue20060628134855. Can’t get it to reload for some reason, so here’s the text:

[quote]內外銷皆受創 香蕉滯銷價格低
記者:陳奇君 報導

今年初受到風災影響,香蕉價格飆到1公斤60元,但現在卻慘跌,只剩9元,原因出在風災過後,農民以為價格好而搶種,生產過剩,加上銷往日本的香蕉日前又被驗出殘留過量農藥,整船被退貨,造成香蕉價格供過於求。

農民扛起整串的香蕉,不過內心卻在淌血,他們說這陣子香蕉盛產,原本寄望外銷賺一筆,沒想到外銷日本時卻因為農藥殘留,被大量退貨。香蕉農民:「日本的品管問題,可能是農藥含量太高,還有我們的品管不夠好。」

外銷受創,內銷量又沒增加,香蕉價格也像坐溜滑梯,從今年初的60元,跌到現在不到10元,三級品甚至只剩2元,農民大嘆實在不敷成本。香蕉農民:「以前滯銷時青果社會收購,整株砍掉,青果社會補助,現在都沒有,現在就太便宜,沒有人要,青果社不收購。」

農民說種植香蕉,投入1甲地的成本,都要10多萬,加上今年初受到風災影響,香蕉價格少,價格飆漲,他們才擴大種植範圍,但不到幾個月就出現供過於求的現象,雖然大陸方面已經透過省農會訂購了2百噸香蕉,但對於大批香蕉農來說,幫助實在很有限,未來還會不會有訂單,香蕉價格何時能提升,仍然是未知數。[/quote]
There were a few other sources I looked at – if you want those, I’ll try to find em for ya.

The harvest speed seemed odd to me, too, but then again there are dozens of banana varieties and subcategories, including the Bluggoe, Chandrabale, Dwarf Cavendish, Fehi, Giant Cavendish, Golden Beauty, Gros Michel, Ice Cream, Karpuravalli, Lady Michel, Lakatan, Mariconge, Monthan, Mysore, Nendran, Orinoco, Pachabale, Pisang masak hijau, Poovan, Rasabale, Rasthali, Red, Robusta, Safed Velchi Musa, Salembale, Silk, Virupakashi, etc. – and some have double the harvesting time of others.

And I couldn’t find much information on the New Giant Cavendish – that strain developed here by the Taiwan Banana Research Institute (台灣香蕉研究所) a few years back. Good article in English here - it also mentions that Taiwan’s bananas are noted for their sweetness and flavor, and that the Japanese prefer them to Philippine and Central American bananas - at least until China started cultivating bananas that rival Taiwan’s.

Oh and I found this: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/banana.html

But then this from the same page:

So maybe the reporter was a bit confused. There’s no question about the huge oversupply, though. Zillions of articles about it in the local press.

You know, I’ll bet the TBRI would be the place to get the lowdown about banana harvesting.

Lord only knows what all this has to do with penises.

Banana mayonnaise sandwich … is that a new health fad thingy …? :s

[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]There’s a banana crisis in Australia, home of the most expensive bananas in the world, apparently.
[/quote]

Yes. Twelve Aussie dollars or roughly 300nt per kilo on the last visit. I’m back on Wednesday for a week and hoping for a better deal.