EU proposal to end banana trade dispute

The European Union has made a fresh proposal to Latin American banana producers in a bid to end a decade-old dispute over the bloc's banana import policies, sources close to the WTO said Monday. In the fresh proposal, the EU has proposed lowering its taxes on banana imports from Latin American countries to 114 euros per tonne by 2019, instead of 2016, prompting swift criticism from the producer nations.

Banana imports to the EU from Latin America are currently subject to taxes of 176 euros per tonne, while imports from mostly poor former European colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific region enter the bloc tariff-free. As a result, Latin American exporters have been pushing for this barrier to be lowered.

The latest proposal would envisage lowered taxes but levied three years later than the 2016 deadline Brussels offered last July in a proposal made on the sidelines of negotiations between ministers for a world trade liberalization deal.

The EU has said the July agreement on bananas was tied to overall trade liberalisation negotiations at the World Trade Organisation. Since those talks collapsed, that agreement was therefore no longer valid, according to the EU.

However, Latin-American producers want the EU to honour the July agreement. "We will not accept the introduction of new elements and renegotiations to arrive at something that is completely different and disadvantageous compared to the balanced agreement concluded on July 27, 2008," Guatemala's ambassador Eduardo Sperisen-Yurt told AFP.

The world's largest banana exporters, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Venezuela, have all rejected the EU's argument and have threatened sanctions against the the bloc. Three of the largest producers with plantations in Latin America are US-based multinationals -- Chiquita, Del Monte and Dole.


Source: google.com


Publication date: 2/24/200

Australia: Banana supplies back to normal

Supplies of North Queensland bananas have returned to normal after weeks of havoc caused by widespread rain and flooding in the tropics. "The industry is very appreciative of the support it has received from consumers during the interruption in banana supplies," said Australian Banana Growers Council president Nicky Singh.

"We expect that banana prices at retail outlets will quickly reflect the increase in available supply as packing sheds and transport operations return to normal,” he told farmonline. "There may be some dullness of the skin due to the weather conditions, but eating quality of the fruit remains excellent."

Singh said that from a logistical perspective, it was a credit to the banana industry's supply-chain partners that they were able to get fruit to market so quickly in what were still very difficult circumstances after the Bruce Highway re-opened.

"Supply from north Queensland was cut to 23,000 cartons during the first week in February but jumped up to 550,000 cartons last week," he said. "The rain caused an average of about 20pc losses in northern plantations due to flooding, water-logging and weather damage, but this will not cause any interruption to future supplies unless there are further weather complications."


Source: foodweek.com.au

Publication date: 2/23/2009

Huge strikes hit banana supplies

Fruitnet.com 18 February 2009

Long-running strikes in Guadeloupe and Martinique have finally started to affect UGPBAN’s activities

The banana-growing islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe in the French West Indies have been virtually paralysed for the past month due to massive strikes against the spiralling costs of living.

Although there have been no strikes in the banana plantations, according to UGPBAN, the islands’ union of banana grower associations, business has recently been affected.

“Activities are starting to be impeded by blockages to the roads leading to the ports, especially in Martinique,” the union said. “Last Saturday, the boat left the Antilles with 44 containers from Guadeloupe and 0 containers from Martinique – less than 20 per cent of usual volumes, which stand at around 250 containers. This was the first boat to havebeen affected by the crisis. Until then, volumes had been quite normal.”

UGPBAN said that it was working with its clients to maintain commercial flows using bananas from other origins, with the priority being the French market rather than exports.

According to reports in the associated press, the strikes in Guadeloupe escalated into rioting on Tuesday, with shops ransacked, vehicles torched and no obvious end in sight.

Banana prices jump amid flooding

Fruitnet.com 18 February 2009

Western Australian banana prices have soared by up to A$3 per kg on January prices as suppliers struggle to move fruit

Flooding in northern Queensland has hit Western Australian (WA) banana supplies, leading to a rapid increase in prices at retailers.

Torrential rains and floodwater has cut off many transport routes, meaning that Queensland growers have struggled to supply the usual 40,000 bananas per week to the region, The West Australian reported.

Bananas were retailing at A$6.99 per kg at Herdsman Fresh this week, with prices at Coles (A$6.95 per kg) and Woolworths (A$5.98 per kg) in Innaloo also up significantly on January's prices of around A$4 per kg.

Herdsman Fresh produce manager Ron Swain told the publication that he expected the situation to ease over the next few weeks as supplies return to normal. "We're paying about A$55 per carton, when we'd normally pay between A$28 and A$20 a carton," he said.

Australian officials have marked the cost of the flooding in Queensland at A$210m, with many areas declared natural disaster zones.

Australia: Banana prices set to fall

You might have noticed banana prices have been a little high in recent weeks, but that's not going to be for much longer.

Far North Queensland banana growers have rejoined the market, after severe flooding stopped the road transport of bananas out of regions north of Ingham.

In Western Australia, Carnarvon grower Chris Collins has enjoyed better prices for his fruit, but reckons it'll drop with a thump as 550,000 cartons hit the market.

"We've probably got $10 to $15 more than what we were getting in the weeks previous," he says.

"I think sort of the top price was about $48 to $50 a carton and it'll probably drop back down quite quickly.

"I mean, 550,000 cartons probably equates to about 45,000 to 55,000 cartons coming into Perth."


Source: abc.net.au

Publication date: 2/18/2009

Dole gives consumers direct line to Costa Rica

An interactive sticker system is being introduced by fresh produce supplier Dole to help reassure consumers over its banana sourcing policies.

Each sticker will feature a unique code that identifies where the bananas were packed. Shoppers can enter the code into the Planet Dole website, which will give them access to information about the grower.

Consumers will be able to zoom into the farm via Google Earth, learn about the farmers who grew the fruit and the social benefits sales of the bananas have paid for.

Dole, the world's largest fresh produce company, would roll out the stickers in Continental European retailers later this month, and was in discussions with UK supermarkets about introducing the stickers here, said Dole vice-president Sylvain Cuperlier.

In a crowded fresh produce aisle, stickers directly on the produce were the best way of communicating information, he said.

The stickers will initially be limited to banana lines from Costa Rica, although Dole plans to extend this to Ecuador and other locations. Other fruit may also be included in the scheme in future.

"We are being more proactive in promoting corporate social responsibility," added Cuperlier. "We want consumers to know more about what's behind the brand. Bananas are a sensitive product in terms of image and consumers are concerned about how they are sourced."

The stickers were part of a strategy to get retailers to work with Dole on joint CSR projects, Cuperlier said. A Norwegian supermarket, for example, had recently contributed $300,000 to a Dole community project in Ecuador. Retailers could contribute towards any of 20 medical, environmental or social projects, he said, adding that the publicity would help boost consumer confidence in their sourcing practices.

Dole was also providing material for children to use in the classroom to explain how produce was sourced and when fruit was ripe, Cuperlier said.


Source: thegrocer.co.uk

Publication date: 2/17/2009

Costa Rica ‘rejects’ EU offer

fruitnet.com 16 February 2009

Export official calls EU banana tariff proposal “insufficient”, although Costa Rica has yet to deliver a formal response

Costa Rica appears poised to reject the latest offer from the European Union (EU) to reduce its controversial banana tariff for Latin American bananas, claiming that the proposal is “insufficient” for the country’s exporters.

The Central American nation’s Ministry of External Trade (Comex) has also claimed that the new offer is “inferior” to a provisional agreement made between the EU and Latin
American countries last year during the failed Doha round of trade talks.

Speaking to Costa Rican daily La Nación, Comex spokesman Marco Vinicio Ruiz described the new proposal as “insufficient and even poorer than the July (2008) agreement”.

News agency EFE earlier claimed that the revised proposal, if implemented, would see a three-phase reduction in the tariff – from €176 per tonne to €148 per tonne this year, followed by a lowering to €143 per tonne in 2010 and a final reduction to €136 per tonne in 2011.

This compares with the original agreement, which would have seen the tariff lowered to €148 per tonne this year, falling to €114 per tonne by 2016.

Ministers from Comex reportedly met late last week with officials in Panama to discuss their response to the EU’s proposal.

Philippines: Banana industry on edge over effects of climate change

Climate change could have a significant impact on the region’s banana production this year.

Anthony B. Sasin, spokesperson of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA), said that the weather has a 50% stake on a banana grower’s production target.

The banana industry is regarded as the backbone of agribusiness in the Davao Region, providing direct employment to about 100,000 people and contributing at least $400 million to the country’s export receipts annually.

Mr. Sasin told BusinessWorld that climate change took its toll on production last year based on the association’s production estimates.

The PBGEA report showed that during the first 11 months of the year, production of members last year went down to 1.753 million metric tons from 1.828 million metric tons during the same period last year.

The same report pointed out that an increase in production during the year compared with the same period in 2007 was experienced in only five months.

From less than 30,000 hectares of farms 10 years ago, however, PBGEA members now control an area approaching 50,000 hectares, industry sources said.

Fear of the adverse effects of climate change and the global crisis have forced banana companies to be more cautious in their expansion projects.

Cautious spending

Alex V. Buenaventura, president of One Network Bank, shares Mr. Sasin’s sentiment. Mr. Buenaventura, whose bank runs a supervised financing for banana farming, said that some growers who are clients of his bank have been cautiously expanding their farms because of fear that projected yield might not be met due to weather anomalies..

Last year, the bank released about P569 million compared with P477 million in 2007, or a 19% increase.

This year, Mr. Buenaventura said, the bank will practice more caution in its lending to banana growers.

Mr. Sasin talked about Anflo Management and Investment Corp., which used to run several banana farms.

Two years ago, the company had to pull out its investments in Agusan del Sur after heavy rains hit the plantation site. He estimated the company had lost about P1 billion when it finally abandoned its farms in 2007.

Mr. Sasin pointed out that when Anflo, where he sits as executive vice-president, started its due diligence study of the Agusan del Sur farms, the amount of rainfall was just enough for banana growing.

When the company started operating the farms, however, the rains had become so frequent that production targets were not met.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) has also taken note of the seeming changes in the weather.

Gerry S. Pedrico, chief of the agency in the Davao Region, pointed out that based on the rain pattern, the rainy season has become longer compared with previous years.

"In [the past], our rainy days were evenly distributed making our farms good for any crop. Right now, changes have been slowly taking place," he said, explaining that this has caused problems in farming.

He cited as an example last year when lanzones trees in farms in the city failed to bear fruit because of the extended rainy season. Ironically, this occured during the Kadayawan sa Dabaw, a festival held to celebrate a bountiful harvest.


Source: bworldonline.com

Publication date: 2/12/2009

Flooding damage to Dominican farms RD$300M and counting

Although the authorities still evaluate the farm sector’s losses from the flooding in several zones, in the country’s Northwest and Northeast they surpass RD$300 million.

Agriculture minister Salvador Jiménez said the Government will assist farmers affected by the floods that damaged rice, banana, plantain, vegetables and fruit crops.

After meeting with producers in the Northwest, Jiménez said there’ll be many facilities for farmers to recover form the flooding damage.

Some farm owners asked him to be part of the committee that manages the dams, because they are not taken into account when they are drained.

The provinces most affected by the floods were Santiago, Santiago Rodriguez, Dajabón, Montecristi, Puerto Plata, San Francisco, Espaillat, La Vega and Monseñor Noel.

Overflowed rivers, streams and creeks also flooded thousands of houses in urban as well as rural areas, forcing the evacuation of thousands.

In Santiago the body of Eugenio Garcia, 37, was recovered yesterday, whereas in nearby Altamira a mother and her 10 year old daughter drowned and also a farmer who tried to cross a swelled river.

It’s been more than nine days of downpours in the North, Northeastern and Northwest regions, whereas the National Meteorology Office expects the rains to continue for another 24 hours.


Source: dominicantoday.com

Publication date: 2/12/2009

Dole to reduce carbon emissions

Fruitnet.com 10 February 2009

Multinational seeks to become carbon neutral for all banana supplies from Costa Rica and to cut emissions across supply network

Dole has announced its intention to reduce carbon dioxide emissions across its banana supply network over the coming years and is to concentrate particular efforts on becoming carbon neutral for its banana shipments from Costa Rica.

Speaking at the recent Fruit Logistica trade fair in Berlin, Dole’s director of worldwide corporate social responsibility, Sylvain Cuperlier, told Fruitnet that the group was seeking to reduce emissions for its supplies from Latin America and Asia.

Mr Cuperlier said Dole was focusing much of its efforts on Costa Rica, where the company signed a partnership agreement with the country’s government in August 2008 to reduce carbon emissions at its banana plantations.

“We are already complying inland with this agreement and our objective is to become carbon neutral for all banana shipments from Costa Rica,” he said.

Mr Cuperlier said that Dole was also seeking to reduce emissions throughout its banana supply network, through measures such as using more efficient refrigerants in container ships. By doing this, he explained, the company would be able to save money as well as reducing its carbon footprint.

Dole also used Fruit Logistica to highlight its recent corporate social projects to retailers and producers, such as a ‘Chairs for Trees’ scheme in the Philippines and a school co-funded by Dole and growers in Ecuador, and to offer a range of options for future partnerships.