4 February 2011

Banana Watch in Canberra

| Rowdy
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Last Sunday, bananas at my local Aldi store were $2.45/kg. Today, less than 24 hours after Cyclone Yasi crossed the Queensland coast, some old and very spotty bananas were on sale in my local IGA store for $6.99/kg. Perhaps the only kind thing to say about this is that bananas at $7/kg will seem like a bargain in a few days.

Any other examples of early price rises?

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Even Queenslanders in the know buy Coffs Harbour bananas when they can. Queensland bananas tend to be big, fat, soft and tasteless – I never buy them. Coffs Harbour bananas are the little ones (not sugar bananas though). They always ripen perfectly and are very tasty. Some outlets in Canberra have them when they can.

I bought some very nice ones at Coles this afternoon for $4.99 kg.

I think a little perspective is in order. When I see bananas at $15 per kilo, I just think “well, these crims are trying to gouge me, so no bananas for a while”. Believe it or not, it’s possible to go for months at a time without eating a banana and still survive with your health and sanity intact.

It all seems a bit lame, when there are millions of people around the world who don’t have access to any food at all (let alone bananas), clean drinking water, or a roof over their heads.

I wonder what sort of response you’d get from those folks if you complained to them about the terrible shortage of bananas in Australia.

Perhaps it’s time for Westpac to reprise their “A+B=C” ads explaining how the price of bananas influences wholesale residential mortgage rates. Worked really well last time.

I just paid $3 per kg at Ziggy’s in Belco, went into Woolies to get a few things and they’re already up at $6 per kg. Sad since there is no way they’re already selling post cyclone produce.

I realise that supply and demand has implications for price, but this seems like rediculous price gouging. I would much rather see stock of Australian bananas exhausted than sit rotting on the shelf at $15 a kilo.

maniac said :

That is crazy! I still remember the great banana drought when I had to pay $14 per kilo *sigh*.

Take this as a warning kiddies – Banana addiction is cruel.

georgesgenitals10:47 am 04 Feb 11

If bananas cost $15 a kilo, we’ll just stop buying them for a while, like last time. There’s plenty of other nice fruit at good prices.

Genie said :

maniac said :

That is crazy! I still remember the great banana drought when I had to pay $14 per kilo *sigh*.

Hiking prices up that much just seems silly… esp when no one would buy them at that price.

I’m just curious when Larry hit if people were actually buying banana’s at that price or if they were going to waste ??

My girls were born on the day cyclone Larry hit, it wasnt until late September that they ate bananas when we went to Coff Harbour. I refrained too & bananas are my favourite fruit.

I gorged myself at Coff’s as we paid between 99c & $2.99 a kilo (depending on the quality). We even bought a box to bring home at 10 bucks.

There was no way I was goin to be touched up by the supermarkes.

maniac said :

That is crazy! I still remember the great banana drought when I had to pay $14 per kilo *sigh*.

Hiking prices up that much just seems silly… esp when no one would buy them at that price.

I’m just curious when Larry hit if people were actually buying banana’s at that price or if they were going to waste ??

That is crazy! I still remember the great banana drought when I had to pay $14 per kilo *sigh*.

Press today is forecasting $15 per kilo. Like in the past, i will be avoiding buying bananas at that price.
I know FNQ has had some crop devastation but I thought we got the majority of our bananas from Northern NSW? Perhaps a bit of price fixing?

I bought a whole bag of them for $3 this morning 😀 The lolly ones are so much better than the real thing.

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