The announcement was made on Friday by the Panamanian Ministry of Commerce and Industry during a visit to Chiquita’s plantations in the province of Bocas del Toro (west).
“The return of Chiquita marks a fundamental step to recover a flagship export and create new opportunities for the province,” stated the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Julio Moltó, after visiting the factory with Chiquita’s administrative director, Wagner Beig.
Beig confirmed that the company plans an initial investment of $30 million (approximately €26 million) and the employment of 3,000 workers in the first phase, according to a ministry statement.
The Chiquita executive further explained that the second phase involves creating an additional 2,000 jobs after full resumption of export operations.
Chiquita operated thousands of hectares in Bocas del Toro under a concession but halted activities and laid off nearly 6,500 workers.
This followed a strike initiated by the company’s union, Sitraibana, in April, which lasted about two months, against Social Security reform, lasting two months.
The strike, later declared illegal by a labor court, caused losses of about $75 million (approximately €64 million) to Chiquita.
The company is returning and “will modernize production under a model in line with Panamanian legislation, called agricultural partnership, which allows the company to lease, without transferring [the land] in any form, to farmers for banana production,” explained the Minister of Commerce on September 11.
The multinational is committed to “buying the fruit, regulating its production, and supporting” the farmers, “which will significantly generate more employment in the region, all within Chiquita’s standards,” added Julio Moltó at the time.
The minister recalled that the agreement to reactivate banana production in Panama was signed with Chiquita on August 29, in Brazil, during an official visit by the Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino.
The document “establishes a framework of cooperation for the reorganization of the Panamanian banana sector,” according to a statement from the Presidency of Panama.
Bananas remained the leading export product of the country during the first quarter of 2025, representing 17.5% of external sales, which in that period reached $324.4 million (€276.2 million), the highest value in 15 years, according to official statistics.
