The European Commission has reportedly conformed that it will lower the present banana tariff rate for Colombian and Peruvian imports to €75 per tonne over the course of the next 10 years, as part of new trade deals between Europe and the countries.
According to press reports in Spain, the proposed reduction would mean the tariff level for banana imports from the two Andean countries is lowered from the current €176 per tonne to €145 this year, before being progressively reduced to €75 by 2020.
However, the European authorities stressed to Spanish daily ABC that the agreements of association would only cover “specified quantities” of Colombian and Peruvian bananas that could be exported to the European Union.
The trade deals have already received an angry reaction from both the government and banana sector of the Canary Islands – the largest EU-based supplier of bananas to Europe.
The Canary Islands’ government said the offer of a preferential tariff level with Colombia and Peru posed a “serious threat” to the future of the island’s banana sector.
In a statement, the Spanish region urged the Spain’s national government to defend the interests of the archipelago, claiming that if the offer was extended to other Latin American countries, the Canaries industry would be “seriously affected”.
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