In terms of the gross value of its production, bananas are the fourth most important food crop in the world, after rice, wheat and maize. Latin America dominates the world banana economy, which is grown mostly in large monoculture plantations.

The sector has been an important pillar of the Latin American economy since the 1950s, when rising prices and increased demand from northern countries (today North America and the European Union capture more than 60% of world imports ), led to a rapid expansion of production. Bananas are a commodity, and like almost all commodities produced in the South and consumed in the North, more than 90% of the price paid by the consumer stays in the North and never reaches the producer. The world banana trade is practically controlled by three transnational companies.

In Latin America, the main producing country for the export of this product is Ecuador, followed by Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama. However, other countries such as Brazil, the Caribbean states of the Windward Islands (Saint Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts-Nevis and Saint Vincent), Jamaica, Belize, the Dominican Republic and Suriname are also large producers.