Bananas are the main export product from the province of Cabinda to the Republic of Congo. The regions of Ponta-Negra and Brazzaville, the capital, are the main destinations for bananas produced in the Angolan province of Cabinda
Figures indicate that exports of bananas represent around 80 percent of the volume of goods that leave the province for the neighboring country, through the border post of Massabi. Data collected by the newspaper OPAÍS from those responsible for the customs post in Massabi, 90 kilometers north of the city of Cabinda, show that an average of around 20 tonnes of bananas are exported daily to Congo, which gives a figure of monthly collection of 750,000 kwanzas as revenue for the State coffers, at a compensatory export tax of 0.5 percent.
According to Congolese buyers, who purchase the product from the said border post in the municipality of Cacongo, the Cabinda banana is also resold in Gabon, a country that borders Congo. Locally, producers find it difficult to sell bananas due to the lack of a consumer market, that is, there is a lot of supply and little demand. As the quantities for internal consumption appear to be quite small, the surplus produced finds the Republic of Congo-Brazzaville as its main sales market.
The Congolese have a lot of preference for the Angolan banana produced in Cabinda because they consider it to be of good quality and to be greatly appreciated both in Congo and in Gabon. The varieties of bananas produced in Cabinda and sold at the border are, namely, the fruit or table banana (eaten naturally as a fruit and used to make jams, jams and other compounds) and banana bread, a variety whose pulp texture is harder and the taste is indigestible when consumed in its natural form. They are bananas that are consumed, essentially, boiled or fried.
In addition to domestic consumption, Cabinda bananas are also served in restaurants and hotels in those countries. On Wednesdays and Fridays, the movement becomes frenetic in Massabi. These are days established for commercial exchanges at the border. Trucks loaded with bananas transport the product from the production fields directly to the border. As soon as it arrives, the product is packed in the Vitalo square, in the national territory, where Congolese traders buy the banana at prices considered moderate.
Prices depend on the size of the bunch and these vary between 700 and 1500 kwanzas equivalent to 500 and 1000 CFA Francs. In Congo, the price of bananas is three times more expensive than in Angola. The minimum amount is 2,500 CFA Francs. National producers complain about sales prices that do not compensate for production costs and other expenses inherent in transporting bananas to the border.
They complain that, in sales, the Congolese generally set and dictate prices to the detriment of the national producer. “We have to accept their move, because if we don’t sell the product, it spoils and we are at a loss. Little is better than nothing”, lamented a national producer to our report, in Massabi.
BY: Alberto Coelho, in Cabinda
