On October 14, Eduardo Ledesma, executive director of the Ecuadorian Association of Banana Exporters, said during an interview that "this year Ecuador ceased being the main supplier of bananas to the European Union. Colombia is now the leader, because it already has a trade agreement with the EU."
"Yesterday, Peter Schwaiger, the delegate in charge of the European Union in Ecuador, confirmed that Colombia had recently surpassed Ecuador in banana exports; and it’s just logical as we are selling a box at 54 cents," said the businessman.
According to Ledesma, if El Niño phenomenon doesn’t have a high negative effect by December, the country will have exported more than 310 million boxes of bananas. "In 2016 our rate will be about 59 or 60 cents per box. That means we’ll lose an important market share until the trade agreement with Ecuador comes into force."
In this line, Ledesma considers it necessary for the Government to implement this agreement, and other ones with countries such as Turkey, Japan and China, where Ecuador pay higher tariffs than its competitors neighbours, as soon as possible. "Cut us some slack by having a new legal framework, eliminating excessive red tape and penalties, implementing agreements," he said.
The European Union is made up of 28 countries and Ecuador is still negotiating the terms of the agreement that would come into force in mid-2016.
Source: ecuavisa.com