In mid-February, Eric de Lucy, President of the Union des groupements de producteurs de banane (Union of banana producers' groups) assembled its clients-ripeners-to show them that after five months his strategy of grouping West Indian banana supplies is still going strong. The operation first concerned Martinique and is being extended to Guadeloupe. Karubana, one of the two producers' groups in the latter island, used the occasion to announce that it is joining the Union.