By Gemma Lougheed - 29th November 2005
The EU has agreed a new import tariff of €176 per tonne of bananas from January 1 2006.
The system will apply to countries with ‘most favoured nations’ status, mostly South American countries, and will replace the existing one of duties and quotas.
The decision was taken by EU governments after a proposal from the European Commission.
The new import regime will also include a duty-free annual import quota of 775,000 tonnes for ACP bananas, also to apply from 1 January 2006.
European Commissioner for Agriculture, Mariann Fischer Boel, welcomed the decision which follows a long period of uncertainty.
“It will ensure that growers and traders know what the rules will be from January 1 2006. I am also convinced that this is a fair and balanced result for everyone, which will fully maintain access for Latin American producers while continuing to take into account EU and ACP producers,” said Fisher Boel.
“At the same time our door remains open to continue talks with the Latin American countries concerned.”
In a bid to soften potential outrage from Latin American countries, the EU’s trade chief, Peter Mandelson, said that further consultations were still on the cards.
“The door is not closed to further negotiation with our Latin American partners in order to reach a mutually satisfactory solution,” said Mandelson.
“The agreement by member states to a tariff only system is an important signal for traders. The commission will continue to monitor carefully the impact of this decision on prices and trade flows.”
This is the third tariff proposal the commission has put forward over the past year. The first two proposals, €230 and €187, were rejected by the WTO.
Bananas have traditionally been a problematic commodity for the EU, the world's largest importer in the world, as Brussels tries to balance the interests of former colonial producers in Africa and the Caribbean with erratic market forces.
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