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Agreement is "near, but not yet in the bag" |
19th November, Banana Link
A spokesman for the European Commission's Trade Directorate told the Spanish media yesterday that an agreement is "near, but not yet in the bag". It would seem that only certain legal aspects remain to be resolved. The deal also concerns duties on other tropical products like pineapples. Observers note that it could give a boost to seriously flagging world trade talks.
The Association representing European banana producers (APEB) from the Canaries, the French Caribbean and Madeira said that the proposed deal would put them in a "very difficult" situation because the "big cut" proposed in tariffs on Latin American bananas and continued duty-free entry of African and Caribbean bananas would lead to a drop in prices on the European market. APEB was particularly disappointed that the EC has not included any of their proposals for compensatory measures for European producers.
Europe's own banana production covers about 15% of consumption in the EU-27 and its subsidies support over ten thousand farmers, many of them small-scale.
Sources: El Economista, Madrid and The Financial Times; Banana Link.
The Guardian is also following this story - click here to read the article.
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