Panama.- The transnational Chiquita will resume its banana exports in December of this year as part of its operational reactivation process of its production in the province of Bocas del Toro, in Panama, which closed months ago due to a union conflict, the Ministry of Commerce and Industries (
Mici) reported this Friday.
“The return of Chiquita marks a fundamental step in recovering an emblematic export and generating new opportunities for the province,” said the Minister of Commerce and Industries, Julio Moltó.
After visiting the plant with the administrative manager of Chiquita Corporations, Wagner Beig, who reiterated that the company plans initial investments of 30 million dollars and the hiring of 3,000 workers in this first stage, according to the official note.
The Chiquita executive also explained that the second phase contemplates the creation of 2,000 additional jobs, once export operations are fully resumed, while Moltó pointed out that this process is the result of coordinated work by the National Government, in conjunction with the Ministries of Labor and Agricultural Development.
Chiquita Panama exploited thousands of hectares in the western province of Bocas del Toro through a concession, but closed the business after the company’s union, Sitraibana, initiated a strike in April that lasted about two months in rejection of a social security reform already in force.
The transnational corporation laid off about 6,500 workers and reported losses of about 75 million dollars due to the union strike, which was declared illegal by a labor court.
Chiquita returns and will “modernize production under a model that is within Panamanian legislation called sharecropping, which allows the company to cede, without transferring in any way (the land), to settlers to produce” the fruit, explained the head of Commerce last September 11.
“The transnational company is committed to buying the fruit, regulating its production, and supporting the farmers, which will generate much more employment in the area, all under Chiquita’s standards,” added the minister during an intervention at the weekly press conference of Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino.
Moltó recalled the terms of the agreement for the reactivation of banana production reached with Chiquita on August 29 in Brazil during a meeting between Mulino and the top leaders of the transnational company with Brazilian capital.
The Memorandum of Understanding between the Government and Chiquita was signed in Brasilia within the framework of an official visit by President Mulino to Brazil, and “establishes a framework for cooperation for the reorganization of the Panamanian banana sector,” indicated a statement from the Panamanian Presidency.
It is estimated that “Chiquita will invest 30 million dollars to reactivate production on 5,000 hectares of banana land, and subsequent export” under the new operating model, according to the information.
The banana remained the main export product of Panama during the first quarter of this year, representing 17.5% of foreign sales, which in that period reached $324.4 million, the highest value in fifteen years, according to official statistics.
