How much of the U.S. banana supply comes from Guatemala?

Close to half by value and about a third by volume. In 2023 the United States imported 5.08 million tonnes of bananas worth US$2.04 billion, of which US$948.9 million came from Guatemala, ahead of Costa Rica (US$432 million), Honduras (US$228.3 million), Ecuador (US$167.9 million), Colombia (US$123.9 million) and Mexico (US$106.1 million). Guatemala's 2024 exports were 2.84 million tonnes worth US$1,015 million, and 88.7 percent of that volume went to the United States.

What box and liner do U.S. receivers specify for Guatemalan bananas?

The 18.14 kg (40 lb) two-piece telescoping corrugated box, 48 boxes per pallet and 20 pallets per 40 ft high-cube reefer, each box lined with one perforated polypack of 0.7 mil (about 18 µm) LLDPE, reference sheet 41.5 by 51.5 inches with 2 half-inch holes per face, always cut to the box format. Vacuum banavac liners are rare on this route because the voyage is short.

Do bananas for the U.S. market need cluster bags?

Conventional fruit mostly does not, because U.S. retail sells bananas loose by the hand; plan 0 to 4 bags per box for programmes that bag at the ripening room. Organic fruit (PLU 94011), club-store packs and brand bags do: 8 to 20 cluster bags per box of 1.0 mil (about 25 µm) LDPE, 24 by 38 cm with a 2 inch gusset, 8 quarter-inch holes per face, printed in up to 8 colours. A 40 ft reefer of a bagged programme needs 7,680 to 19,200 cluster bags, 38 to 96 packs of 200.

How long is the transit for bananas from Guatemala to the United States, and for packaging from Asia to Guatemala?

Fruit: about 8 days from Puerto Quetzal to Los Angeles or Hueneme, and typically 4 to 7 days from Santo Tomás de Castilla or Puerto Barrios to Gulfport, Port Everglades or Wilmington, Delaware. Packaging: 25 to 35 days from South China, Hai Phong or Davao to Puerto Quetzal on the Pacific side, without transiting the Panama Canal, and 30 to 45 days to the Caribbean ports. That is why bags and boxes are confirmed 10 to 12 weeks before the packing week, and why Guatemala receives Asian packaging about a week sooner than Ecuador or Colombia.

Which U.S. ports receive Guatemalan bananas?

Wilmington, Delaware, handles close to 1 million tonnes of bananas a year and is the largest banana import port in North America, with Chiquita and Dole facilities; Philadelphia and Chester share the Delaware River trade. Gulfport, Mississippi, is the main Gulf Coast banana port, and Hueneme and San Diego serve the West Coast, which is where most Pacific-side Guatemalan fruit lands. The ten largest U.S. ports handle 91 percent of banana tonnage.

What documents does a U.S. importer ask the packaging supplier for?

A declaration that the film is a food-contact polyolefin under FDA 21 CFR 177.1520, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certificates, an SGS test report for gauge, dart impact and perforation, FSC chain-of-custody for the corrugated cartons where the retailer requires it, and the retailer's own packaging specification sheet for artwork, PLU and barcode. For PP corrugated plastic crates imported into the United States from the Philippines, the duty position is 0% U.S. AD/CVD — not 0% import duty; 12.5% Section 301 (since Jul 24, 2026) + normal HTSUS duty, confirm with your broker.

Guatemala Banana Packaging for U.S. Importers: the 40 lb Box, the Polypack Liner, Cluster Bags, Container Counts and When the Order Must Leave Asia

Fuxing Development Group · Updated November 1, 2026 · For U.S. importers, ripeners and retail programmes that receive Guatemalan fruit, and for Guatemalan exporters and packhouses that pack for the United States · Versión en español

Quick answer: Guatemala is the largest banana supplier to the United States: it shipped 2.84 million tonnes worth US$1,015 million in 2024, and 88.7 percent of that volume (92.4 percent of the value) went to the U.S.; in 2023 Guatemalan bananas were worth US$948.9 million of the US$2.04 billion the U.S. imported, nearly half. Almost all of it travels in the 18.14 kg (40 lb) two-piece corrugated box, 48 boxes per pallet and 20 pallets (960 boxes) per 40 ft reefer, each box lined with one perforated polypack (0.7 mil, about 18 µm). Because U.S. retail sells most bananas loose by the hand, a conventional programme needs few or no cluster bags; organic, club-store and brand-bagged programmes add 8 to 20 cluster bags per box (1.0 mil, about 25 µm). Field bunch covers are counted per farm week, about 0.8 to 1.0 per exported box. Transit from Guatemala to the U.S. is short, about 8 days from Puerto Quetzal to Los Angeles and under a week from Santo Tomás or Puerto Barrios to the Gulf and East Coast, so the pack is specified for a 5 to 10 day voyage, not a 25 day one. The long leg is the packaging itself: from Asia to Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala's Pacific port, is 25 to 35 days without transiting the Panama Canal, so bags and boxes for a given packing week must be confirmed 10 to 12 weeks earlier. The 12 data points a supplier needs are at the end of this page.

Why the Guatemalan banana box is a U.S. standard

Of the roughly US$2.5 billion of fresh bananas the United States imported in 2024, more than 90 percent came from five countries, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Ecuador and Colombia, and Guatemala alone supplied close to half of the value and about a third of the volume. Guatemala's own trade statistics for 2024 show 2.84 million tonnes exported for US$1,015 million, with the United States taking 88.7 percent of the volume and 92.4 percent of the value; the central bank put 2025 export revenue at US$1,056 million. More than 40,000 hectares are planted, roughly 85 percent on the Pacific side around Tiquisate and Escuintla, which ship through Puerto Quetzal to the U.S. West Coast and Gulf, and less than 15 percent in Izabal on the Caribbean side, which ships through Santo Tomás de Castilla and Puerto Barrios to Gulfport, Wilmington and the Delaware River ports. The three leading growers, Grupo HAME (more than 9,000 ha), Bandegua (Del Monte, about 4,000 ha) and Cobigua (Chiquita, about 2,600 ha), together with independent exporters such as Palo Blanco, pack for Dole, Chiquita, Del Monte and for private-label retail programmes. For a U.S. receiver, that means the Guatemalan pack is the U.S. pack: whatever liner, bag and box arrive at Wilmington or Hueneme, the chances are they were cut for Guatemalan fruit.

Fact	Figure	What it means for the packaging order	Source
U.S. banana imports 2023	5.08 million t, US$2.04 billion (+4 %); Guatemala US$948.9 M (+2 %), Costa Rica US$432 M (+21 %), Honduras US$228.3 M, Ecuador US$167.9 M, Colombia US$123.9 M, Mexico US$106.1 M	Guatemala ≈ 46 % of U.S. import value; on the order of 90 million 40 lb boxes a year, each with a liner	USDA data reported by The Packer, March 8, 2024
U.S. banana imports 2024	More than US$2.5 billion; over 90 % from Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Ecuador and Colombia	The five origins run the same 18.14 kg box, so one liner specification serves most U.S. programmes	USDA figures cited by the Banana Association of North America in The Packer, April 7, 2025
Guatemala exports 2024	2.84 million t, US$1,015 M; U.S. 88.7 % of volume, 92.4 % of value	About 155 million 18.14 kg boxes; 155 million polypacks and 125 to 155 million bunch covers a year from one origin	Tridge, HS 0803.90, 2024; box arithmetic ours
Guatemala export revenue 2025	US$1,056 M, world's fourth-largest exporter	Volume stable year-round; the packaging calendar is set by U.S. demand peaks, not by harvest	Banco de Guatemala via Prensa Libre, February 14, 2026; World's Top Exports 2025
Planted area and geography	> 40,000 ha; ≈ 85 % Pacific side (Tiquisate, Escuintla), < 15 % Izabal; yields around 70 t/ha	Most packaging is delivered to Puerto Quetzal; Caribbean farms receive through Santo Tomás	FruiTrop No. 269; Eurofresh Distribution 2022
Main U.S. entry ports	Wilmington, Delaware (about 1 million t a year, the largest banana port in North America; Chiquita and Dole), Philadelphia and Chester, Gulfport, Hueneme and San Diego; the ten largest ports handle 91 % of U.S. banana tonnage	Receivers at these ports specify the box, the liner perforation and the pallet pattern; send the artwork and the box drawing to the packer, not to the port	Port Economics, Management and Policy (banana chapter); FreshPlaza, February 9, 2021

Liner and cover counts are simple arithmetic on the box totals and exclude domestic sales and processing; read them as orders of magnitude. This page is packaging guidance, not customs or phytosanitary advice: USDA APHIS, FDA and the Guatemalan OIRSA/MAGA rules govern the fruit.

What the U.S. pack looks like, and how it differs from the European pack

Europe and Russia buy bananas in clusters, bagged and branded; the United States mostly buys them loose, by the hand, from a display tray. That single retail habit changes the packaging bill. A conventional U.S. programme consumes one polypack per box and almost no cluster bags, while the same fruit packed for a German or Polish supermarket would carry 14 to 20 cluster bags per box. Cluster bags enter the U.S. pack in three places: organic fruit (sold bagged so that it is not confused with conventional at the till, with the PLU 94011 printed on the bag), club-store and brand bags (3 to 5 lb "to go" packs for warehouse clubs and some national brands) and ripening-room programmes that need portion packs for convenience stores. Because the Guatemala to U.S. voyage is short, receivers specify the perforated 0.7 mil polypack rather than a heavy vacuum liner, unless the fruit is held green for two weeks or more.

Element	U.S. conventional programme	U.S. organic / club / branded programme	EU and Russia programme (for comparison)
Box	18.14 kg (40 lb) two-piece telescoping corrugated box, 1 to 2 hand holes per end, ventilation slots; 48 per pallet, 20 pallets per 40 ft high-cube reefer	Same box; some club programmes use a 13.6 kg (30 lb) or display-ready box	18.14 kg box; Russia and some EU retailers also 13 kg
Liner	1 perforated polypack per box, 0.7 mil (≈ 18 µm) LLDPE, 2 half-inch holes per face	1 polypack per box, often printed "organic" on the liner or on the pad	1 polypack per box; vacuum banavac (35 to 50 µm, unperforated) for long transits
Cluster bags	0 to 4 per box (only where the receiver bags at the ripening room)	8 to 20 per box, 1.0 mil (≈ 25 µm) LDPE, 8 quarter-inch holes per face, printed up to 8 colours with PLU and brand	14 to 20 per box in 100 % cluster programmes
Bunch cover (field)	1 per bunch from shooting to harvest, 10 to 12 weeks; 0.8 to 1.0 cover per exported box; ordered per hectare and per bagging week, not per container
Pads and inserts	Corrugated or kraft pads between hands are common in U.S. packs; polyethylene foam pads where the receiver asks for them		Pads less common; crown pads for cluster programmes

Ranges are planning values used by Guatemalan and Ecuadorian packhouses for 18.14 kg fruit; the exact count is fixed by the receiver's specification and by the fruit calibre. The three bag types and their photos are on our banana bags page; how the count scales per box, pallet and container is in our banana bags per box and per container guide.

Consumption per container and per programme

Planning base: the 18.14 kg box, 48 boxes per pallet, 20 pallets per 40 ft high-cube reefer, 960 boxes; floor-loaded fruit, up to 1,080 boxes. A mid-sized Guatemalan farm of 300 hectares at 70 t/ha and a 1.0 to 1.3 box-per-bunch packing ratio ships about 20,000 boxes a week, 21 containers. The numbers below are for one such farm; multiply by your farms or divide by your weekly containers.

Item	Per box	Per 40 ft reefer (960 boxes)	Per 300 ha farm week (20,000 boxes)	Weight per farm week
Polypack 105 × 131 cm, 0.7 mil, perforated	1	960 (about 2 rolls of 500)	20,000 (40 rolls)	≈ 920 kg at 46 g per liner
Cluster bag 24 × 38 cm, 1.0 mil, conventional programme	0 to 4	0 to 3,840 (up to 19 packs of 200)	0 to 80,000	0 to 350 kg at 4.35 g per bag
Cluster bag, organic / club / branded programme	8 to 20	7,680 to 19,200 (38 to 96 packs)	160,000 to 400,000	700 to 1,740 kg
Bunch cover 90 × 150 cm, 25 µm	0.8 to 1.0	770 to 960	16,000 to 20,000	800 to 1,200 kg at 50 to 60 g
18.14 kg corrugated box (two pieces)	1	960	20,000	≈ 20 to 24 t at 1.0 to 1.2 kg per box set

A conventional 300 ha programme therefore consumes about 0.9 to 2.6 tonnes of film a week depending on how much fruit is bagged, and 20 to 24 tonnes of corrugated board. Film for a quarter fits in a few pallets; the boxes fill containers, which is why Guatemalan packers buy boxes locally or regionally and import liners, bags and PP corrugated plastic harvest crates in mixed containers, and why those mixed containers are worth planning as one shipment with one customs clearance at Puerto Quetzal.

Where the packaging comes from, and the transit arithmetic

Guatemala has its own banana converters, Polyproductos de Guatemala and Polindustrias among them, and regional film is made in Costa Rica, Mexico and Colombia; corrugated boxes are mostly produced in-country. Imported packaging from Asia competes on printed cluster bags, on polypack and bunch-cover gauge consistency, and on PP corrugated plastic crates for harvest and packhouse handling. The decisive fact for a Guatemalan buyer is geography: Puerto Quetzal is on the Pacific, so a container from South China, Hai Phong or Davao reaches it in 25 to 35 days without the Panama Canal transit, about a week faster than the same container to Guayaquil, Cartagena or Limón. For a U.S. importer who specifies packaging for a Guatemalan packer, that is the figure to put in the calendar.

Origin of packaging	Typical transit to the packhouse	Strengths	Watch points
Guatemalan or Central American converter	Days by truck	Short lead time, Spanish-speaking service, boxes and pads	Gauge and perforation tolerance vary by plant; printed cluster bags in 6 to 8 colours are scarce; capacity is spoken for by the large growers in peak
U.S. converter (liners, cluster bags)	7 to 14 days by sea from Gulf ports, or by road through Mexico	FDA documentation ready; same time zone as the receiver	Highest unit price of the three routes; bunch covers rarely offered
Asian converter (Fuxing, Dongguan, Hai Phong, Davao)	25 to 35 days to Puerto Quetzal, no canal transit; 30 to 45 days to Caribbean ports	Published gauge and perforation specs, 8-colour print, bags and PP corrugated plastic crates in one container, 12-hour quotation in English or Spanish	Order must be confirmed 10 to 12 weeks before the packing week; air freight for liners and cluster bags only (7 to 10 days)

Fuxing manufactures bunch covers, polypack and banavac liners and cluster bags in 20 to 50 µm, PP corrugated plastic boxes and crates in 2 to 10 mm, and the 13 kg and 18.14 kg corrugated cartons that go with them. Our Davao plant supplies Philippine banana programmes for Sumifru, Unifrutti and Del Monte Philippines; Philippine-made PP corrugated plastic boxes shipped to the United States carry 0% U.S. AD/CVD — not 0% import duty; 12.5% Section 301 (since Jul 24, 2026) + normal HTSUS duty, confirm with your broker. Bags and corrugated boxes delivered to Guatemala are cleared under Guatemalan tariff rules; ask your forwarder for the current rate.

Reference specifications U.S. receivers accept

The sheets below are the published technical specifications of a Colombian converter whose bags are listed in the Fyffes specification catalogue and used by Uniban and Tropical programmes; they are the most common starting point in Central America and the Andean trade. Fuxing makes all three formats to these sheets or to your own drawing.

Item	Reference dimensions	Reference gauge and perforation	Presentation and weight	U.S. compliance notes
Polypack (box liner)	41.5 × 51.5 in (105 × 131 cm), tolerance ± 1 in; alternative 98 × 108.3 cm; always cut to the box	LLDPE 0.70 mil (≈ 18 µm, ± 10 %), 2 half-inch holes per face, dart impact 59 g	Roll of 500 (± 1 %), 23.11 kg net, 46 g per liner; also flat bales	Food-contact polyolefin under FDA 21 CFR 177.1520; declaration of compliance supplied with each lot
Banavac (vacuum liner)	Cut to the box; unperforated	LDPE/LLDPE 35 to 50 µm so that it survives the vacuum and the seal	Roll or bale	Specified only for long holds; rare on Guatemala to U.S. routes
Cluster bag (retail bag, CP bag)	9.5 × 15 in (24 × 38 cm) with 2 in gusset; open-mouth, header or wicketed	LDPE 1.0 mil (≈ 25 µm), 8 quarter-inch holes per face (2 columns × 4 rows, 0.27 % open area); micro-perforated on request	Pack of 200, 0.87 kg, 4.35 g per bag; print up to 8 colours	Print PLU 4011 (conventional) or 94011 (organic), country of origin "Product of Guatemala", brand and barcode as the retailer specifies; recycled-content and labelling rules differ by state, so confirm them with the receiver
Bunch cover (field bag)	Tube 80 to 95 cm wide, 140 to 170 cm long, roll or pre-cut; blue, clear or treated	LDPE 0.4 to 1.0 mil (10 to 25 µm) with UV stabiliser, perforated	Roll or bale; 50 to 60 g per 90 × 150 cm cover at 25 µm	Treated covers follow MAGA and the destination's MRLs; untreated covers have no residue question
18.14 kg (40 lb) corrugated box	Two-piece telescoping; outside about 50 × 40 × 25 cm; hand holes and vents to the receiver's drawing	Double-wall or heavy single-wall kraft; box compression to carry 8 layers on a pallet in a wet reefer for 10 days	Flat bundles, 1.0 to 1.2 kg per box set; FSC on request	Receiver's artwork and PTI case label area; moisture-resistant coating where the ripening room is humid

Gauge selection by route and holding time is covered in our Spanish banana bag micron guide; carton specifications for both box sizes are on the banana carton manufacturer page; PP corrugated plastic crates for harvest and packhouse handling are on the PP boxes page.

Calendar: when a Guatemalan packing week must be confirmed

Milestone	When	What must be closed
U.S. demand peak	January to May, with retail promotions around the Super Bowl (early February) and back-to-school (August)	Liners, bags and covers in the Guatemalan warehouse 2 weeks before the first peak week; organic and club programmes confirm printed cluster bags first
Guatemalan supply	Year-round; slight dip in the cool months (December to February) on the Pacific side; storm risk on the Caribbean side September to November	Weekly call-offs; a second delivery point at Santo Tomás if Izabal farms are in the programme
Factory production in Asia	3 to 4 weeks from artwork approval	Cluster-bag artwork, PLU and barcode, gauge, perforation, units per pack
Ocean transit to Puerto Quetzal	25 to 35 days from South China, Hai Phong or Davao; no canal transit	Order confirmed 10 to 12 weeks before the packing week
Ocean transit to Santo Tomás / Puerto Barrios	30 to 45 days (Panama Canal or transhipment)	Add 1 week to the confirmation date for Caribbean-side farms
Fruit transit to the U.S.	About 8 days Puerto Quetzal to Los Angeles / Hueneme; typically 4 to 7 days Santo Tomás to Gulfport, Port Everglades or Wilmington	Perforated 0.7 mil polypack; vacuum liner only for extended green holds
Urgent top-up	7 to 10 days by air to Guatemala City	Cluster bags and polypacks only; bunch covers and boxes do not fly

In practice: fruit packed for the Super Bowl week is bagged in the field in November and its packaging is confirmed in October or early November; fruit packed in April is confirmed in January. If the receiver changes from loose hands to a bagged club pack, give one shipment's notice: the number of cluster bags per box goes from near zero to 8 to 20, and the weight of the film order roughly triples.

The 12 data points that turn an enquiry into a quotation within 12 hours

#	Tell the supplier	Why it matters
1	Who specifies the pack: the Guatemalan exporter, the U.S. importer or the retailer; and who pays for the packaging	Sets the ship-to (Puerto Quetzal or Santo Tomás), the invoice party and the artwork approver
2	Bag types: bunch cover, perforated polypack, vacuum banavac, cluster bag, or all; boxes and PP corrugated plastic crates in the same container or not	Each has its own film, gauge and converting line; mixed containers are planned differently
3	Box format (18.14 kg type 22XU, 13.6 kg, 13 kg or special) and boxes per week in high and low season	Sets the liner size and the roll and pack counts
4	Dimensions in cm or inches, or a physical sample of the bag and the box used today	We cut to your box, not to a catalogue
5	Gauge in microns or mil, and whether the ripening protocol needs an exact value or accepts a range	2 µm changes the order weight and the behaviour in the reefer
6	Perforation: hole diameter, holes per face, columns and rows, or micro-perforation	Decides gas exchange and condensation on a 5 to 10 day voyage
7	Programme type: conventional loose, organic bagged, club pack or brand bag; PLU, barcode, print colours and artwork files	Plates and artwork are the longest lead-time item; PLU 94011 bags must not be mixed with 4011
8	Presentation: roll, flat bale, pack of 200, wicket or pre-cut, and units per bundle	Matches the packing line and the warehouse
9	For bunch covers: hectares in bagging, bunches per hectare and bagging weeks per year	Covers are ordered per farm week, not per container
10	Total quantity per quarter, split by shipment, and the date the goods must be in the Guatemalan warehouse	Schedules the factory and fixes the sailing from Asia
11	Documents required: FDA 21 CFR 177.1520 declaration, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certificates, SGS report, FSC for cartons, retailer packaging specifications	Lets the receiver's QA sign off before samples ship
12	Incoterm (FOB Shenzhen / Hai Phong / Davao, or CIF Puerto Quetzal / Santo Tomás) and currency	The quotation can then be compared line by line with the local converter's

Polypacks, cluster bags, bunch covers, PP corrugated plastic crates and 18.14 kg cartons for Guatemalan fruit bound for the United States

Fuxing Group manufactures bunch covers, polypack and banavac liners and cluster bags for bananas in 20 to 50 µm, printed in up to 8 colours, PP corrugated plastic boxes and crates in 2 to 10 mm, and the corrugated cartons that go with them, in Dongguan (China), Hai Phong (Vietnam) and Davao and Calamba (Philippines), with ISO 9001, ISO 14001, FSC and SGS verification. Our Davao plant supplies banana export programmes in the Philippines, the second-largest exporting country, for brands such as Sumifru, Unifrutti and Del Monte Philippines. Send the 12-point checklist, or simply a photo of the bag and the box you use today, and we reply in English or Spanish within 12 hours with gauge, perforation and presentation for each item, the weight and volume of the order and the sailing to Puerto Quetzal or Santo Tomás, and we send physical samples of each format for your line trial.

Quote on WhatsApp Email jacky@fuxinggroup.cn

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Frequently asked questions

How much of the U.S. banana supply comes from Guatemala?: Close to half by value and about a third by volume. In 2023 the United States imported 5.08 million tonnes of bananas worth US$2.04 billion, of which US$948.9 million came from Guatemala, ahead of Costa Rica (US$432 million), Honduras (US$228.3 million), Ecuador (US$167.9 million), Colombia (US$123.9 million) and Mexico (US$106.1 million). Guatemala's 2024 exports were 2.84 million tonnes worth US$1,015 million, and 88.7 percent of that volume went to the United States.
What box and liner do U.S. receivers specify for Guatemalan bananas?: The 18.14 kg (40 lb) two-piece telescoping corrugated box, 48 boxes per pallet and 20 pallets per 40 ft high-cube reefer, each box lined with one perforated polypack of 0.7 mil (about 18 µm) LLDPE, reference sheet 41.5 by 51.5 inches with 2 half-inch holes per face, always cut to the box format. Vacuum banavac liners are rare on this route because the voyage is short.
Do bananas for the U.S. market need cluster bags?: Conventional fruit mostly does not, because U.S. retail sells bananas loose by the hand; plan 0 to 4 bags per box for programmes that bag at the ripening room. Organic fruit (PLU 94011), club-store packs and brand bags do: 8 to 20 cluster bags per box of 1.0 mil (about 25 µm) LDPE, 24 by 38 cm with a 2 inch gusset, 8 quarter-inch holes per face, printed in up to 8 colours. A 40 ft reefer of a bagged programme needs 7,680 to 19,200 cluster bags, 38 to 96 packs of 200.
How long is the transit for bananas from Guatemala to the United States, and for packaging from Asia to Guatemala?: Fruit: about 8 days from Puerto Quetzal to Los Angeles or Hueneme, and typically 4 to 7 days from Santo Tomás de Castilla or Puerto Barrios to Gulfport, Port Everglades or Wilmington, Delaware. Packaging: 25 to 35 days from South China, Hai Phong or Davao to Puerto Quetzal on the Pacific side, without transiting the Panama Canal, and 30 to 45 days to the Caribbean ports. That is why bags and boxes are confirmed 10 to 12 weeks before the packing week, and why Guatemala receives Asian packaging about a week sooner than Ecuador or Colombia.
Which U.S. ports receive Guatemalan bananas?: Wilmington, Delaware, handles close to 1 million tonnes of bananas a year and is the largest banana import port in North America, with Chiquita and Dole facilities; Philadelphia and Chester share the Delaware River trade. Gulfport, Mississippi, is the main Gulf Coast banana port, and Hueneme and San Diego serve the West Coast, which is where most Pacific-side Guatemalan fruit lands. The ten largest U.S. ports handle 91 percent of banana tonnage.
What documents does a U.S. importer ask the packaging supplier for?: A declaration that the film is a food-contact polyolefin under FDA 21 CFR 177.1520, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certificates, an SGS test report for gauge, dart impact and perforation, FSC chain-of-custody for the corrugated cartons where the retailer requires it, and the retailer's own packaging specification sheet for artwork, PLU and barcode. For PP corrugated plastic crates imported into the United States from the Philippines, the duty position is 0% U.S. AD/CVD — not 0% import duty; 12.5% Section 301 (since Jul 24, 2026) + normal HTSUS duty, confirm with your broker.

Sources

Tom Karst, The Packer, Banana imports rise in volume and value, March 8, 2024: USDA figures for 2023 U.S. banana import volume (5.08 million t), value (US$2.04 billion) and value by origin (Guatemala US$948.9 million, Costa Rica US$432 million, Honduras US$228.3 million, Ecuador US$167.9 million, Colombia US$123.9 million, Mexico US$106.1 million). Shares are our arithmetic on those figures.
The Packer, Bananas at risk of $250M price increase, trade association says, April 7, 2025: USDA figure of more than US$2.5 billion of fresh bananas imported in 2024 and the Banana Association of North America statement that more than 90 percent come from Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Ecuador and Colombia.
Tridge, Guatemala banana exports (HS 0803.90) 2024: 2.84 million t, US$1,015 million, United States 88.7 percent of volume and 92.4 percent of value; Banco de Guatemala 2025 export revenue of US$1,056 million as reported by Prensa Libre, February 14, 2026; World's Top Exports 2025 ranking.
FruiTrop No. 269 (CIRAD), Guatemala banana sector profile: planted area above 40,000 ha, about 85 percent on the Pacific side, yields around 70 t/ha, HAME, Bandegua and Cobigua areas, Puerto Quetzal to Los Angeles about 8 days; Eurofresh Distribution, 2022, Palo Blanco 3,200 ha.
Port Economics, Management and Policy (Rodrigue, Hofstra University), Main American banana import ports: 4.7 million t imported in 2011, ten largest ports 91 percent, Wilmington close to 1 million t a year, Delaware River, Gulfport and West Coast ports; FreshPlaza, Wilmington is No. 1 US gateway for banana imports, February 9, 2021.
Polyban Internacional S.A.S. technical sheets published in the Fyffes specification catalogue (2026): EB Polypack Plus 70 R500 and plain cluster bag. Cluster bags per box, boxes per bunch, bunch-cover weight, farm-week and container conversions, transit ranges and the U.S. programme split are Fuxing Group planning estimates; verify them against your receiver's specification, your fruit calibre and your ripening protocol. No prices, minimums or firm lead times are given here: ask for them in the quotation.