Poor weather and food-safety rumors are responsible for cool sales for Hainan banana growers, with nearly 450,000 tons of bananas yet to be sold as of the end of June, according to the provincial agriculture department.

Hainan's banana market took a hit earlier this year after rumors circulated that many bananas were ripened with ethephon, an artificial plant growth regulator.

Shoppers use discount coupons co-issued by Taobao.com, an online shopping website, and a Hangzhou supermarket to promote the sales of Hainan bananas, to purchase bananas on July 14, 2011. [Photo/CFP]

In addition, Hainan suffered a bout of cold weather at the beginning of this year, meaning that bananas that were supposed to ripen during the winter were not ready to hit the market until the spring, the same time as spring bananas. The oversupply saw the price of bananas drop dramatically to 0.4 yuan per kilogram, much lower than the average cost of 1.6 yuan per kilogram.

In order to help banana growers, China's netizens have started a campaign calling on people to buy and eat bananas.