According to Eduardo Ledesma, the head of the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE), the amendment adopted on Monday by the European Union (EU), through the International Trade Commission, to protect banana production against Latin American countries does not affect Ecuadorian banana exports.
The commission voted to activate a safeguard clause in order to counter "major producers of bananas that do not respect European social and environmental standards and that, consequently, benefit because their production costs are much lower than that of the West Indian banana," stated Louis-Joseph Manscour, an MEP for the French Socialist Party.
Ledesma said that the measure wouldn't affect the Ecuadorian bananas sent to Europe, as the measure would only affect the countries that already have a trade agreement with the European bloc and that, according to EU authorities, have exceeded their exportation quotas.
"Ecuador can't exceed its quotas because it still doesn't have an agreement with the EU. This is due to excesses of other countries such as Colombia, or perhaps Costa Rica, Guatemala and Peru, which have exported more bananas than their growth allows them," said the exporter.
He added that when Ecuador signs the multiparty agreement with the EU, which is expected to happen later this year, the amendment would not affect exports "because they have a very broad level of growth."
According to Ledesma, the Ecuadorian banana today, which doesn't have an agreement, currently pays 127 euro per ton while its competitors pay 103 euro. Next year, with the agreement, Ecuador will pay 97 euro per ton and the other countries 96 euro. "That is 1 or 2 cents per box, well below the 59 cents we pay today," said Ledesma.
Source: eluniverso.com