ACP countries are fighting to keep their bananas competitive in Europe

Some banana producing countries in Africa say if Europe goes ahead with its current schedule, it would worsen their socio-economic problems.

And some have already dropped out of the banana industry as a direct result of the tariffs cuts.

Hoping to give a boost to broader WTO talks, the European Commission wants to make a steep cut in its banana import tariffs in order to end a long-running trade dispute with Latin American producers.

But ACP nations are worried that the tariff cut would undermine preferential access to the vast European Union market that they have long enjoyed.

What's 'still' at stake

Speaking in Brussels, Gerhard Siwat the Surinamese ambassador who chairs the ACP's "banana" group said they quite often have the feeling that the European Commission does not understand what partnership means.

	Wibdeco has been leading the 'banana battle' for the Windward Islands

In an effort to compensate their losses, the EU's executive body is said to be ready to offer $135 million for the 2010-2013 period, which ACP countries deem is barely enough to have an impact.

Federico Alberto Cuello Camilo, the Dominican Republic's EU ambassador said the money being offered - in his words - "doesn't even scratch the surface of the needs of ACP banana growers".

EU regulators have been negotiating with Latin America's leading banana suppliers towards an agreement that would gradually reduce import tariffs through to 2016.

The hope is to put an end to the "banana wars" that have dragged on since the 1990s.

That has given Caribbean and other ACP banana producers a major headache.

They claim that their development was being sacrificed on the altar of free trade.

Some producers in Africa say if Europe goes ahead with its current schedule, it would worsen their socio-economic problems.

Anatole Ebanda Alima, Europe delegate for the Cameroon Banana Association (ASSOBACAM), said it doesn't give time to adjust and for certain countries it would mean saying goodbye to bananas.

He noted that already in Africa, Cape Verde and Somalia have disappeared from the banana market.

	Will the ACP banana industry soon be 'washed away'?

The latest offer from Brussels has been rejected by ACP producers, especially leading exporter countries Cameroon and Ivory Coast, which want smaller tariff cuts over a longer period.

Pressure points

Ecuador, the world's largest banana exporter, has led pressure from Latin America for the EU to stick to a deal negotiated in July 2008.

That deal fell apart as the WTO talks collapsed.

In February, the European Commission updated its July offer into another one that would cut tariffs as early as possible to $196 a tonne from $234 now, then to $180 by 2011.

The idea is to cut the duty to $US150 by 2016.

But the means of getting there is, for the Commission, largely dependent on a Doha agreement.

One scenario, it has suggested, could be to freeze remaining annual cuts if there is no Doha deal by 2012.

The European Commission, which negotiates foreign trade on behalf of the EU's 27 member countries, is caught between the two sides.

Over the years, Latin American countries have won a string of WTO cases against Brussels and Europe is now obliged, under international trade law, to "bring its policy into compliance".

If it does not, the Latin countries can apply trade sanctions.

ACP countries, on the other hand, have the leverage of threatening to block a final agreement in the Doha round.