The 2008 congress of the Asociación de Exportadores de Banano del Ecuador (AEBE) held from 14 to 16 April in Guayaquil revealed a sector concerned about its future. A great many subjects were addressed: Panama disease race IV, the increase in oil prices, the availability of sea freight capacity, the problem of the Panama Canal, socioenvironmental certification and phytosanitary measures, consumer expectations, the problem of the diversification of fruits, etc. It was also an opportunity to see how Ecuador's competitors from Costa Rica and Colombia are pushing the sector in the right direction. Finally, as the subject is an inevitable one, discussions covered the European custom tariff, with good features such as the participation of ACP countries, and less good ones with the presentation of much questioned results of an econometric study of the influence of the customs tariff on the world banana trade.