The retail price of one pound of bananas in the United States declined one cent to .57 cents in 2019. Prices have hovered around .58 cents for the past seven years. Banana prices peaked in 2008 at 62 cents per pound.

Banana trade

Consumers in the United States love bananas. The country was the biggest importer of bananas by a wide margin, receiving nearly 3 billion U.S. dollars worth of the fruit in 2018. Its main partner in the banana trade was Guatemala, from which it received over a third of its imports.

Banana consumption

Bananas were the most consumed fruit in the United States in 2017. Popularity can, in part, explain the stability of banana prices. Over the last 18 years, average per capita consumption was approximately 26.4 pounds per year, with a high of 28.54 pounds in 2018. Banana production has largely kept pace with consumption, increasing just 5 percent in the last eight years.