CTA
Small fontsize
Medium fontsize
Big fontsize
English |
Switch to English
Français
Switch to French
Filter by Agriculture topics
Commodities
Regions
Publication Type
Filter by date

EU reviews banana trade amid ACP concerns over preference erosion

09 July 2012

At the end of May 2012, in the lead-up to the ACP–EU Ministerial consultation on bananas held in Vanuatu in June 2012, the EC posted statistics on EU banana supplies. This highlighted the growth in ACP banana exports to the EU since 2006 (increasing by 34% from 763,974 to 1,023,717 tonnes by 2010).  This saw the ACP share of total EU banana imports increase from 19.45 to 22.63%, before falling back in 2011 to 976,999 tonnes, or 21.22%.

However, this overall picture masks widely divergent trends in the ACP. The major trend is the consistent expansion of imports from the Dominican Republic, which rose 222.5% between 2004 and 2011 to take its total share of ACP banana exports from 12.92 to 33.45%.

Suriname and Ghana have also emerged as larger suppliers of bananas to the EU markets, with their shares of ACP exports increasing from 2.48% and 0.23% in 2004 to 6.4% and 4.82% respectively in 2011.  In contrast, the Bahamas and Jamaica halted banana exports to the EU in 2007 and early 2008 respectively, while exports from the Windward Islands fell from a share of 10.1% in 2004 to only 1.09% in 2011.

Banana exports from Belize meanwhile have remained stable (although with annual fluctuations), as have exports from Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire (although on a slightly downward trend). The combined share of ACP banana exports as a proportion of world exports fell from 60.15% in 2004 to 47.6% in 2010 and 46.88% in 2011.

EC statistics also reveal the emergence of a small volume of banana exports to the EU from East African countries (only 135 tonnes in 2010).

In terms of non-ACP banana suppliers (so-called dollar suppliers), exports to the EU rose by 14.6% between 2005 and 2011. The strongest increases were from Costa Rica (+33%, from 20% of total dollar bananas in 2005 to 23.3% in 2011), Colombia (+28%, from 27.89% in 2005 to 31.25% in 2011) and Peru (+464%, from 0.36% in 2005 to 1.79% in 2011). Ecuador however remains the largest supplier of bananas to the EU market, accounting for 39.24% of EU dollar banana imports in 2005 and 36.96% in 2011.

EU analysis of the EU banana market in 2010 provides some insights into why ACP banana exports fell in 2011, since in 2010 wholesale prices for ACP bananas had ‘remained very low’ compared to 2009, mostly due to very low prices in the UK and Spain. Indeed, ‘during the winter period, due to a strong crop and economic crisis, ACP wholesale price hit a low of 0.79 €/kg, which is the lowest level for this period of the year since 2005.’ However, the subsequent recovery of prices in the first 4 months of 2011, which saw prices for ACP bananas rise by 5%, may well have served to reduce the scale of the overall decline in 2011. 

Editorial comment

Despite the relatively strong performance of ACP banana exports as whole since 2005, two factors are a major source of concern:

  • the very divergent trends within the ACP group (taking the Dominican Republic out of the equation, a decline in ACP banana exports has occurred); and
  • the fact that tariff preferences already agreed for dollar banana suppliers have not yet begun to be fully implemented.

The countries benefiting from the tariff concessions are seen as having ideal conditions to increase their supply of bananas to the EU market. 

Comment

Terms and conditions