KSA’s HAQ starts new banana contract

The firm took delivery of the first shipment, consisting of four container-loads of bananas, in June, following their despatch from Ecuador in late May. The contract between HAQ and BanaBay, which is based in the UK, is a long-term contract, with potential for revision once new freight charges come into the market in January.

Expansion under discussion​

Harley Williams, business development manager for BanaBay, said he will meet HAQ representatives next month: “A colleague and I are visiting Jeddah at the start of August, to discuss the current arrangements, and possible expansion. They’re also looking at taking shipments into Dammam, as a secondary port​.

“Generally, when we’ve struck a deal, one of our business development managers, or even the managing director, will go and meet the first delivery. So when we ship it to Saudi Arabia, or Turkey, or wherever it may be, we will arrive with the first containers, to meet the customer. Because of Ramadan, we weren’t able to meet the first container going to HAQ, but this is one of the purposes of our visit,​” he added.

HAQ, which imports and distributes produce, meat and other food products, will distribute the bananas across the GCC, including to its 25 fresh produce outlets in the UAE. BanaBay also has customers in Egypt and Oman, and is currently aiming to expand its Middle East business.

Ecuador’s appealing bananas​

“This is an area where we see there are opportunities. Because the BanaBay brand is becoming known globally now, we’re getting more and more request from the Middle East area. We tend to find that once a BanaBay product goes in to a country, it triggers interest from other companies seeing the brand – we get a benefit from that indirect marketing, just by having our product in the country​,” said Williams.

He said the Ecuadorian banana is increasingly popular, partly due to its taste, but mostly due to its longevity: “Because of the environment in which they’re grown, the bananas also have a long shelf-life. They will retain their quality a lot longer than bananas from other areas, such as home-grown bananas in Egypt, or even bananas from the Philippines. ​

“If we tried to move Philippines bananas with the transit time we have for Ecuadorian bananas, they would perish, even in temperature-controlled containers​,” added Williams.