The European Commission has announced its approval of a reduction in the banana import tariff to be implemented for Latin American fruit from January, 2006.

European agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel and trade commissioner Peter Mandelson have been told that they need to re-evaluate downwards the €187 per metric tonne tariff, that was rejected by the WTO in September. The word in the Brussels corridors is now that a tariff of €179/mt will be presented to the European Union's General Affairs Council on Monday. The issue will be raised again next Thursday at a meeting of the committee of permanent representatives, the ambassadors of the EU 25.

Already Spain has broken ranks and demanded that the new level should be no more than three to four per cent below the current level, and wants a maximum of €180 per metric tonne to be imposed. The Commission remains committed to implementation of its new import tariff by January, but Latin Amercian producers will resist strongly, as they still have a stated preference for a maximum tariff of €75/mt.

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