The demand for bananas for various needs is quite large. Modern and traditional markets require various types of fresh bananas such as ambon, raja bulu, tanduk, raja sereh, and kapok bananas. Also, other types of bananas such as pisang mas and pisang barangan. The volume of demand for each market varies, reaching an average of 1-3 tons/day.
The various types of bananas mentioned above are rather difficult to obtain in high quality. The reason for this is that these types of bananas have not been specifically planted, such as cavendish bananas, which have a smooth appearance and bright yellow skin. Cavendish bananas are planted by PT Nusantara Tropical Fruits in Central Lampung and PT Sewu Segar Nusantara in Banten.
Fluctuations in the quality of bananas from Indonesia, which ranks 5th in the world as a banana producer with production reaching 4 million tons/year, make banana prices in the banana market fluctuate. Banana market is a term used to refer to markets that sell various types of bananas, fresh or processed. All types of bananas can be treated like cavendish bananas with a smooth appearance that makes the selling price high.
Various industries are also big consumers of bananas such as the bakery industry and banana chips. Especially likes the bakery industry types of plantain and horn banana varieties. Chips? One of the banana chip processing centers in Lampung requires up to 2,500-3,000 tons/year. The varieties needed include ambon, kepok, and horn bananas.
To enter the global market, bananas must meet the rules of the Global Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) for banana production. Six points need attention, namely: plant health, product quality, environmental health, worker welfare, consumer health, and business management.
In 2020, horticultural exports reached USD645.48 million, an increase of 37.75% compared to 2019. The increase in exports was dominated by fruit commodities. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the realized value of fruit exports was recorded at USD389.9 million, an increase of 30.31% compared to 2019 with 5 main destination countries, namely China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan.
Analysis of the competitiveness of Indonesian banana exports in the Aseanmarket in the face of the AseanEconomic Community (AEC) shows that Indonesia has a comparative and competitive advantage in banana exports to Asean countries, especially Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines.