The European Union’s latest round of negotiations with Latin American banana exporting nations over the long-running banana tariff dispute are said to be making “good progress” according to European negotiators.

The third round of talks between the EU and Andean nations Ecuador, Colombia and Peru, which will tackle the taxes levelled at Latin American banana and sugar imports into Europe among other products, is expected to be concluded by June or July.

Rupert Schlegelmilch, the EU’s chief negotiator, told reporters that talks were proceeding at a good pace and were making steady progress towards a likely resolution by July “at the very latest”.

Speaking to Colombian daily El Tiempo at the headquarters of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva, Colombian ambassador Eduardo Muñoz and the country’s minister of agriculture, Andrés Fernández, said they were optimistic of reaching an agreement with the EU over the tariff.

Andean negotiators are seeking a reduction of the current tariff of €176 per tonne for Latin American banana imports to €148 per tonne this year, with the eventual goal of lowering the tax to €114 per tonne by 2016.

According to El Tiempo, Colombia, which is expected to export more than 10m boxes of bananas to the EU this year, hopes to further reduce the tariff to €75 per tonne within the next 10 years.

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