Why are bananas cheaper than apples?
Many people probably wonder why foreign bananas are cheaper than apples. While bananas are certainly imported, apples can be either imported or local. And yet, it's not uncommon to see the price of familiar apples being twice as high as the exotic bananas. In some regions of Russia, bananas are cheaper not only than apples or pears, but even than vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers. Bananas are the most affordable fruit in Russia.
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Where do bananas and apples come from?
Bananas are primarily imported to Russia from Ecuador, where they are harvested year-round. Apples on our shelves are either from Russia or from abroad (often Chile, Argentina, or South Africa).
The secret behind bananas' low prices
Bananas are much easier to grow than apples. They grow naturally, without much human intervention. After being picked, green bananas ripen during transportation to importing countries, in warehouses, and en route. Once in stores, the bananas are treated with ethylene, which ripens them instantly. Shipping bananas from sunny countries by sea is still extremely inexpensive, and stores don't inflate prices because they want to sell the perishable product quickly. Thanks to all this, Russian consumers receive very reasonable prices for the overseas fruit.
Problems with apples
A high-quality apple harvest requires human effort; apples don't grow naturally like bananas. Transporting and storing apples is also more difficult because, unlike bananas, they can't ripen on the fly. Experts have calculated that apple productivity per hectare is significantly lower than banana productivity, despite the fact that land in Ecuador is cheaper than in Russia.
