Banana giant Chiquita has reportedly suspended some of its farming operations in Panama due to strikes now in their third week.
Workers in Panama are striking to oppose national social security reform.
In a statement cited by Spanish news agency EFE, Chiquita Panama said it will permanently close one entire farm and “additional areas equivalent to two farms” in Bocas del Toro province.
Chiquita has 26 farms in Panama covering 6,969 hectares and had already lost $10m by Monday due to the strikes, according to EFE.
“The company will carry out the legal and administrative procedures for the definitive cessation in the cultivation and packaging plant areas,” Chiquita’s Panama subsidiary said in a statement widely shared on social media.
The statement added the strike was having a deep impact on the supply chain: “With each passing day, the loss of fruit and the impact on the cultivation area continue to increase, making it impossible to reverse this negative effect in the short term.”
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By GlobalDataIn the statement, Chiquita Panama said the country’s economy was being impacted, due to the importance of banana exports. “International markets are already replacing exports of Panamanian bananas with products from other countries, creating a significant obstacle to recovering this space in the international market.”
It urged workers to return.
Banana remained Panama’s main export in the first quarter, worth $324.4m, the highest for a quarter in 15 years, according to figures from Panama’s Ministry of Commerce and Industries cited by EFE.
In June last year, Chiquita was ordered to pay $38.3m in damages by a US court to the families of victims murdered by a Colombia paramilitary group.
In that case, the banana supplier was accused of funding the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), classed as a terrorist organisation by the US, dating as far back as 1997.
