The ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) states feel let down by the banana agreement currently being finalised by the EU and Latin America. “The EU is pushing for an agreement to show progress has been made towards removing obstacles to a conclusion to the Doha round, but we have the feeling we have been sacrificed,” the head of the ACP Banana Group, Suriname Ambassador Gerhard Otmar Hiwat, told AFP. 

The compromise found (see Europolitics3863) envisages firstly a decrease in customs duties for Latin American bananas from €176 to €148 per tonne, as of the signing of the accord in 2010, followed by an annual reduction for seven years ultimately settling at €114 per tonne in 2017. In exchange, the Latin American producers agreed to drop their complaints against the EU and the World Trade Organisation, where they had already had several successes.

The ACP countries, which are exempt from tax and will lose some of their competitive advantage, are demanding compensation from the EU to the tune of €250 million. The EU has offered €190 million. The Commission says it is “very optimistic” that the ACP countries will support the agreement, which could be signed next week in Geneva, putting an end to a 15-year conflict between the EU and Latin America.

According to Eurostat, 72.5% of some 5.4 million tonnes of bananas sold in the EU in 2008 already came from the dollar zone (essentially Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama), 17% from the ACP countries (mainly Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Dominican Republic, Belize and Suriname) and 10.5% from the EU itself (principally the Canary Islands, Guadeloupe and Martinique). n