UK retailers publish first report on Living Wage gaps in banana supply chains
Nine UK retailers established their living wage commitment for the banana sector in 2023, aiming to close living wage gaps by the end of 2027.
This is the first published report under the commitment, covering the second and third years of wage data collection: 539 salary matrices and 92,759 workers in 2024 (86% of volumes), and 503 matrices and 79,623 workers in 2025 (84% of volumes), across twelve producing countries. The average living wage gap held broadly steady, 14.78% based on 2023 wage data and 14.39% based on 2024 data, with around 70% of farms and 30% of workers showing a gap in both years. Looked at by volume, however, the share with a gap rose sharply, from 57.85% in 2024 to 71.89% in 2025, a shift likely driven by inflation, benchmark changes and shifts in supply chains.
In 2025, five of the nine retailers began making voluntary contributions to suppliers, together covering 14.6% of volumes with a reported gap, while retailers also expanded their joint verification and supplier training efforts and agreed a broader set of KPIs to track progress. Several are now working on longer-term solutions, including social dialogue projects in Ghana, Cameroon and Colombia and a joint gender pay gap study with the Anker Research Institute. As with the Belgian commitment, the UK group will move to a cross-border structure with the Netherlands and Belgium from 2026.
Read the report in English, please click here