There is no shortage of bananas in Tatarstan

What has happened?

Ecuador has been on the news agenda of the world's media since January 7. That day, the leader of the Los Choneros criminal group, Jose Adolfo Villamar, escaped from prison. Soon, one by one, the prisoners began to organise riots in other prisons in the country where mafia representatives are being held.

Already on January 9, mass riots broke out in Ecuador. Footage of unidentified masked men with cold steel breaking into the studio of the state TV channel TC Television and taking the presenters hostage live on air has spread all over the world. Then the media staff was released, and the criminals were detained. But the wave of violence began to spread to other parts of the country, which is why the authorities had to involve not only all the police forces, but also the national army.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa imposed a curfew in the country, and schoolchildren and students were transferred to remote education. The hunt for criminals began.

After a few days, the passions subsided. The other day, the military and police of Ecuador managed to free all the hostages taken by the rebellious prisoners during the riots in the country. But the situation in the country is still unstable, according to local media.

Ecuador is the key supplier of bananas to Russia

In 2023, Ecuador supplied 1.3 million tonnes of bananas to Russia. Fruits from Colombia and Costa Rica are also imported into the country, but Ecuador is the main supplier of bananas to Russia, according to the Rosselkhoznadzor data.

Due to the unrest in the South American country, there are fears that Russian buyers may be left without bananas. However, so far there is no reason to talk about such a situation. At least, Tatarstan has no problems with these fruits.

“The Rosselkhoznadzor Administration for the Republic of Tatarstan informs that there is no direct import of quarantined products, including fruits from Ecuador, to the Republic of Tatarstan. There are no problems with the supply of fruits to date," the department informed us.

Albert Kadyrov, the head of the Department of Phytosanitary Supervision and Grain Quality Supervision and Seed Control of the Rosselkhoznadzor Administration for the region, explained in a conversation with a correspondent of Realnoe Vremya that fruits from Ecuador come to the republic from distribution centres located in Moscow and St. Petersburg. He explained that there are no difficulties with their supply.

In case of any problems, the country will be able to reorient itself to other markets, as it did after the imposition of sanctions. As the interlocutor of Realnoe Vremya recalled, European countries stopped supplying various fruits to Russia. For example, Polish apples and pears can replace goods from Azerbaijan or other neighbouring countries.

As of January 9, a kilogramme of bananas in Tatarstan cost in the range of 143 rubles. Compared to December 25, they increased in price by 2.39 rubles.