Ebook: Banana Split: How EU Policies Divide Global Producers

Banana prices within the European Union are almost double world levels. These prices are maintained by restrictive import quotas and tariffs that generate rents that accrue to producers and distributors. The European Union is obliged to remove its quantitative restrictions and replace them with tariffs that are likely to give preference to existing quota holders from ACP countries. Indications are that a relatively small proportion of the rents are currently accruing to ACP producers and the loss in rent would be more than offset by the expansion of EU imports.