Ecuador’s trade minister Tomás Peribonio has slammed the EU’s €176 a tonne banana tariff as discriminatory as his country moves closer to taking the EU to the World Trade Organisation.
His beef is that the tariff was never negotiated by the EU with exporter countries such as Ecuador. Now, following a meeting with banana sector leaders on Monay Peribonio said they were all in agreement to start the WTO complaints process against the EU over the discrimination issue.
The likely timescale for any official complaint to be brought is within two months, Peribonio indicated. “We are among world market leaders in banana production,” Peribonio said, “and we have every right to rail against what we believe is unjust.”
If any complaint Ecuador makes is upheld, Peribonio says the idea is to gain a negotiated tariff with the EU in the long term. “The important thing is to have clear rules for the future.”
Bananas are Ecuador’s second most important export after oil and generated an income of over $1bn in 2005.
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