# Turbana

Established in 1970, grower-owned Turbana Corporation, is a leading importer of tropical produce in North America, including bananas, plantains, pineapples, and ethnic tropicals. Turbana was the first organization to bring Fair Trade Certified bananas to North America. An advocate in sustainability and social consciousness, Turbana has developed the farming communities in the banana and plantain-growing regions in Colombia over the past 44 years through its social foundation, Fundauniban. Turbana gives a portion of every purchase to Fundauniban, contributing to the $250 million the foundation has invested in social and economic projects for education, housing, infrastructure, and environmental protection since 1987. Turbana is owned by Uniban, the world's largest co-op of banana growers and the world's largest producer of plantains and Fair Trade Certified bananas, and Fyffes, number one importer of bananas and one of the largest tropical produce importers and distributors in Europe.

## History

Turbana, a grower-owned banana and plantain company, is the fourth largest importer of bananas in North America, and was the first importer of fair trade-certified bananas in the continent. Turbana's parent company, Uniban, is the largest producer of fairtrade bananas in the world. Turbana offers an assortment of fresh tropical products including bananas, plantains, pineapples and 18 different ethnic tropicals. It also offers a full line of plantain chips available in six different flavors.

### Fair trade practices

As a pioneer in fair trade, Turbana was the first importer of fairtrade bananas in North America. The company's certified fruit comes from thirty Uniban-operated fairtrade-certified farms in Colombia that uphold the promise of food safety, consistent product quality, environmental sustainability, and excellent labor conditions. To date, Uniban is the largest certified grower of bananas in the world. Turbana and Uniban have utilized fair trade practices, even before certification existed, to provide financial and technical support, safe working conditions, economic development, education, fair prices and a better quality of life for their farmers. Turbana and Uniban work alongside fair trade's governing bodies to contribute a portion of each purchase to a social premium that will benefit the farm workers. This premium is invested in education, housing, microloans, health and sustainability projects in the growing regions.

## History

| 1966 | Uniban was born when a group of farmers came together as a co-op to export fruit directly. |
| April 1969 | Parker Banana, a company from Florida, signs a contract with Uniban to purchase bananas to sell to the U.S. market. Uniban sends the first shipment to the U.S. on a ship called the Matilde with 18,000 boxes of bananas. |
| August 11, 1970 | Turbana Corporation was created as the marketing and operations arm to the North American market. |
| November 10, 1970 | Turbana imports its first shipment to the U.S to Jacksonville, Florida. |
| 1975 | Turbana makes debut in European market. Uniban signs a contract with Velleman and Tas B.V. – now Fyffes Plc. – to distribute its fruit in Europe, thereby introducing the Turbana brand to the European market. |
| 1978 | Uniban opens a box factory, paving the way for the company's vertical integration and creating over 100 new jobs. |
| 1983 | Turbana opens a new shipping route from Turbo to Newark. A new sales team is hired and offices open in Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Jersey to accommodate Turbana's expansion plans. By the end of the year, Turbana is established as a prominent player in the North American banana market. |
| 1985 | Retail stores start selling Turbana plantains across North America. |
| 1987 | Creation of FundaUraba – now Fundauniban – Turbana and Uniban's social foundation. |
| 1992 | With the launch of baby bananas and red bananas, Turbana introduces a new category: exotics. Customized packaging is created to help launch the new varieties and retailers are educated on the new exotics. |
| 1994 | Turbana creates the first Private Label Program for Stop&Shop in Boston. Today Turbana is the largest producer of Private Label bananas in North America. |
| 2004 | Turbana begins selling Fyffes pineapples. |
| 2005 | A strategic alliance between Uniban and Fyffes is formed. Both companies now own 50% of Turbana. |
| 2007 | Turbana signs a four-year contract to become the exclusive supplier of bananas and pineapples for Disney, under the Disney Garden Label. |
| 2008 | Uniban, Turbana's parent company, builds its first snack factory in Uraba to produce plantain chips. The snack factory created new jobs and provided an additional source of income for plantain farmers. |
| March 2010 | Turbana diversifies its product portfolio with the launch of Turbana Plantain Chips, available in six flavors: Chili, Chili Lime, Sweet, Lime, Garlic, and Natural. |
| 2012 | Turbana launches its Tropical line nationwide, now offering 18 products including Yucca, Chayote, Coconut and Avocado. The tropical program was started to help Turbana's retail partners cater to the needs of the growing Hispanic market and other ethnic groups. |
Source: Turbana

## Product line

| Bananas | Cavendish Bananas Baby Bananas Red Bananas Manzano Bananas |
| Plantains | Harton Plantains Burros Plantains |
| Tropicals | Aji Cachucha Aloe Vera Avocado Batata/Boniato Calabaza Chayote Dry Coconut/Groovy Coconut Eddoes Ginger Habanero Pepper Malanga Coco Malanga Lila Malanga White Malanga Yellow Ñame Sour Orange Yellow Yam Yucca |
| Pineapples | Fyffes Gold pineapples |
| Snacks | Turbana Plantain Chips |