Store, who was due to report on September 30, has asked the WTO for three more months to complete his study, angering the Ecuadorian banana sector.
The regime changed to a tariff-only system on January 1, 2006 and since then Ecuador argues that it has been disadvantaged while European senders and those in former European colonies benefit.
According to EU date, banana imports have increased by six per cent year-on-year since the regime was changed and deduce that the system is therefore more beneficial than the former licence and quota arrangement.
But Pablo Rizzo, farm minister of the Andean nation argues that the increase is only 3.7 per cent and that now there are 15 Ecuadorian banana export companies supplying the EU market compared to just four last year.
“We are selling more bananas, but percentage-wise, we have the same 38 per cent share as a year ago,” Eduardo Ledesma, president of Aebe, the Ecuadorian Banana Exporters’ Association told Ecuadorian national daily El Commercio. “We must not waste any more time in bringing a complaint against Europe.”
Aebe figures indicated that during the first six months of the year, Ecuador sold 539,146 tonnes of fruit to Europe compared with 525,060 for the same period in 2005.
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