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Banana-producing countries


Bananas are produced in 135 countries and overseas territories across the tropics and subtropics, according to the statistics compiled by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).1 Most bananas are consumed in the country where they are produced (exports represent less than 16 per cent of global production).

The FAO Statistics Division (FAOSTAT) publishes the data received from countries or applies an imputation methodology2 when countries do not send data. In 2018, this was the case for about two-thirds of the banana-producing countries. FAOSTAT also splits production into two crop items: bananas and plantains.

The words bananas and plantains are used loosely by FAOSTAT to mean dessert bananas and cooking bananas, which is confusing since Plantain is also the name of a group of cooking banana cultivars. Comparing the FAOSTAT production data with the ones published every two years in FruiTrop suggests that FAOSTAT is underestimating the share of cooking bananas in global production and overestimating the one of Plantain cultivars.3 The maps showing where cooking bananas are grown also show important growers of cooking bananas missing on the map using FAOSTAT's plantains production data, compared to the one done using the data published in FruiTrop.

The production data published in FruiTrop are curated by Cirad scientist, Thierry Lescot, who uses as a starting point the FAO data which he re-examines in the light of other evidence, such as reports, national statistics and expert knowledge. He breaks down production into four categories: Cavendish cultivars, other dessert bananas, Plantain cultivars, and other cooking bananas.

2018 Production

Production is measured in tonnes (metric tons). One tonne is equal to 1,000 kilograms or 2,205 pounds.

FAOSTAT estimates that in 2018 a total of 155.2 million tonnes of bananas were produced: 115.7 million tonnes under their bananas crop item (75%) and 39.5 million tonnes under their plantains crop item (25%).1 However, it's not uncommon to see  the 115.7 million tonnes figure erroneously being cited as representing the global production of bananas.4

The estimated production for the same year published in FruiTrop is 139.5 million tonnes: 79.6 million tonnes of Cavendish (57%), 17.5 million tonnes of other dessert bananas (13%), 20.9 million tonnes of Plantain (15%), and 21.4 million tonnes of other cooking bananas (15%)5 .

Maps

Below are interactive maps of the estimated total production of bananas based on the data published in FAOSTAT1 and FruiTrop5 .

Countries producing bananas (total of dessert and cooking types)

The FAOSTAT data represent the total of the bananas and plantains crop items, while the FruiTrop data represent the total of four caategories: Cavendish, other dessert bananas, Plantain, and other cooking bananas. Production is measured in tonnes. The estimated quantity of bananas produced in overseas territories is accessible from the country with which it is associated (France, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom and United States of America).



 

Countries producing cooking bananas

The maps below show the production of cooking bananas only. Although production is similar (39.5 million tonnes according to FAOSTAT and 42.3 million tonnes according to FruiTrop), there is a marked difference in the number of producing countries. The FruiTrop data cover many more countries, including large producers of cooking bananas, such as India, Indonesia, Rwanda, Burundi, Brazil, Vietnam and China, that according to FAOSTAT only produce dessert bananas.



Production by country

Below is the list of banana-producing countries and overseas territories and the number of tonnes they each produced in 2018. Production is measured in tonnes. The production values represent the total of the bananas and plantains categories into which the FAO breaks down the banana. Download Excel file of the data: 2018 FAO Production Stats

You can also search by country/territory or region by clicking on Filters.

Filters
RankCountry/territoryProduction (tonnes)
1India30,808,000
2China11,221,700
3Philippines9,358,785
4Colombia7,287,997
5Indonesia7,264,383
6Ecuador7,157,603
7Brazil6,752,171
8Cameroon5,144,258
9Congo, Democratic Republic of the5,066,203
10Uganda4,337,747
11Guatemala4,294,121
12Ghana4,264,258
13Tanzania4,045,568
14Angola3,492,184
15Nigeria3,093,872
16Costa Rica2,633,788
17Mexico2,354,479
18Peru2,329,480
19Cote d'Ivoire2,280,368
20Dominican Republic2,224,403
21Viet Nam2,087,275
22Rwanda1,739,007
23Burundi1,654,955
24Kenya1,447,189
25Egypt1,388,199
26Papua New Guinea1,383,174
27Myanmar1,226,994
28Thailand1,045,352
29Venezuela978,475
30Laos970,985
31Cuba961,244
32Sudan951,233
33Malawi825,179
34Bangladesh810,347
35Bolivia799,474
36Honduras774,706
37Guinea730,509
38Sri Lanka672,239
39Mozambique578,437
40Ethiopia508,013
41Haiti505,087
42Turkey498,888
43South Africa444,879
44Panama415,743
45Spain (Canary Islands)386,226
46Madagascar383,522
47Malaysia376,589
48Australia373,931
49Nicaragua361,352
50Taiwan356,238
51Morocco319,950
52Gabon292,052
53Nepal254,403
54Liberia192,000
55Martinique (France)188,857
56Mali187,011
57Central African Republic178,713
58Argentina174,585
59Puerto Rico (United States of America)155,466
60Congo, Republic of151,515
61Cambodia144,403
62Pakistan135,056
63Israel135,000
64Iran131,170
65Yemen116,322
66Jamaica116,288
67Zimbabwe106,058
68Belize85,358
69Paraguay75,868
70Equatorial Guinea71,676
71Lebanon71,625
72Guinea-Bissau65,628
73Saint Vincent and the Grenadines64,384
74Suriname64,234
75Guadeloupe (France)62,413
76El Salvador61,748
77Comoros46,777
78Sao Tome and Principe46,550
79Sierra Leone45,923
80Jordan42,098
81Guyana40,230
82Dominica32,345
83Senegal30,541
84Togo26,820
85Samoa22,558
86Portugal (Madeira)22,254
87Benin22,167
88Somalia20,905
89Oman18,265
90Vanuatu16,787
91French Guiana (France)11,000
92Reunion (France)10,466
93Fiji10,281
94Bahamas9,974
95Cabo Verde9,509
96Saint Lucia8,602
97Kiribati8,339
98Trinidad and Tobago8,293
99Mauritius7,333
100Eswatini (formely Swaziland)6,857
101Wallis and Futuna Islands (France)6,493
102Cyprus5,460
103United States of America4,274
104Tonga3,126
105Palestine3,118
106Bhutan3,000
107Greece2,459
108Grenada2,426
109Micronesia, Federated States of2,342
110Seychelles1,987
111Brunei Darussalam1,822
112New Caledonia (France)1,760
113Barbados1,046
114Bahrain996
115American Samoa (United States of America)844
116Zambia652
117Timor-Leste566
118British Virgin Islands (UK)479
119Guam (United States of America)354
120Italy337
121Maldives334
122Bermuda (UK)326
123Algeria319
124Solomon Islands313
125Tuvalu292
126Antigua and Barbuda270
127Cayman Islands (UK)239
128United Arab Emirates204
129Montserrat (UK)201
130French Polynesia (France)188
131Syrian Arab Republic154
132Niue81
133Japan51
134Cook Islands30
135Tokelau (NZ)16

The hidden side of banana diversity published 24 October 2017 in InfoMus@ News and analysis

FruiTrop stats in Musalit