Post-enlargement quotas may harm banana growers

Date: 19/02/04

EU ENLARGEMENT could spell major trouble for impoverished banana growers in the Caribbean, a prime minister from the West Indies has warned.

Talks are currently underway in the EU institutions about what quotas will apply to banana imports once the Union acquires ten new member states on 1 May.

Caribbean producers are concerned that new quotas could bring banana prices down and affect their incomes.

"Once the quota is kept to a reasonable level, we're going to manage," said Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

"But if the quota is placed at astronomically high levels, Europe will be flooded with cheap bananas and the average price will be driven down further."

Bananas are among the most important sources of revenue in the Caribbean.

In 1993, the EU decided that imports from the African, Caribbean and Pacific bloc would be restricted to some 850,000 tonnes per year. However, the World Trade Organization has since ruled that the Union's banana regime falls foul of its rules. As a result, the EU has agreed to replace its quota system with a tariff-only one in 2006.

Speaking to European Voice, Gonsalves lamented the impact which falling banana prices are having on the West Indies - the average price paid for the fruit in the UK has fallen by 31% in the past 18 months.

Bananas alone used to represent around 25% of gross domestic product for these islands, now they represent just 10%.

"Bananas are what send children to school and put bread on the table," said George Bullen, ambassador of the Eastern Caribbean States to the EU. "Unlike in Latin America, with its huge plantations, we have a very high proportion of landed peasants."

The Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines has warned that new quotas which will apply to banana imports once the European Union enlarges to 25 members on 1 May 2004 could bring banana prices down and affect incomes of Caribbean producers.

https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/countries/saint-vincent-and-grenadines_en https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/countries/saint-vincent-and-grenadines_en

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