Russia has lifted its partial ban on banana imports from Ecuador, as announced by the Russian food safety watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor. The ban was initially imposed after the discovery of the polyphagous humpback fly, a pest known to carry cholera and the bee plague, in shipments from Ecuador. The humpback fly is considered a dangerous quarantine pest for Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union due to its potential to contaminate a wide range of products.
The ban specifically targeted five Ecuadorian exporters and reportedly impacted 25,000 jobs and over 3,000 small producers in Ecuador. Ecuador is the world's largest exporter of bananas, and Russia is one of its largest buyers.
The issue with the humpback fly in Ecuadorian banana shipments was first reported by Rosselkhoznadzor in 2018. Ecuador's trade ministry assured that measures have been taken to eradicate the problem. It was also noted that the life cycle of a humpback fly is 24 days, whereas bananas take 40 days to reach Russia, and that cholera has not been detected in Ecuador since 2014.
The lifting of the ban comes after Ecuador’s president announced plans to exchange outdated Russian and Ukrainian-made military equipment with the US for new hardware. The Russian Foreign Ministry indicated that this could violate existing agreements regarding the transfer of Russian-made equipment.