Preferential access for banana producers from African, Caribbean and Pacific countries will be maintained under latest proposals for a revised banana import regime unveiled on April 16 by the European Commission.
The proposals allow for a 300,000-tonne transitional import quota for the 10 EU accession countries and the new quota will be applied from the date of entry of new members on May 1 through to year end.
These measures do not "prejudice" the European Council decision to move to a tariff-only system by January 1, 2006, the Commission said in a statement. "The preferential access for growers from ACP countries will be maintained and all WTO commitments honoured."
Although the quota allocation is below that hoped for by EU banana operators, they are likely to be relieved by the decision as higher volumes could have brought more pressure to bear on prices.
Operators in the 15 existing member states as well as the 10 newcomers had applied for licences to import some 654,000t.
So 464,000t allowed annually by the EC decision is likely to be more in line with demand.
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