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Abstract
The first part of the paper discusses changes that occurred in the world market for bananas in recent
years. These changes include successive modifications of the EU import regime for bananas (the EU
is the single largest importer of bananas, with a quarter of the world market), innovations in sea
shipment modes, increased concentration of the retail sector, and the expansion of the demand in
developed countries for environmentally friendly and Fair Trade bananas. The implications of these
changes for the distribution of the value among the actors at the different links of the global chain
for bananas are discussed in detail. The second part of the paper focuses on banana exports from
Cameroon, a value chain representative of ‘traditional’ chains in which large multinationals
maintain a central role.