The European Union has agreed a deal to cut tariffs on banana imports, signalling the end of the world’s longest-running trade dispute, which began 16 years ago with the establish-ment of European tariffs on banana imports, BBC online reports Tuesday.
Banana producers in Latin America will be subject to lower EU import tariffs as a result of the deal. This should make them more competitive with producers in Africa and the Caribbean, who pay no tariff. The price consumers pay for bananas could fall by 12% as a result, experts have predicted.
The move is likely to disadvantage the banana industries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (known as the ACP countries). Many of them have economies heavily reliant on banana production, and rely on the EU tariffs to secure them access to the European market. A compensation package for the ACP countries, worth 200 million euros, is included in the deal.
The European banana market is the largest in the world, with 5,5 million tonnes of the fruit imported last year.
