HL Deb 21 October 1991 vol 531 cc1314-5

3 p.m.

Viscount Montgomery of Alamein asked Her Majesty's Government:

When they will permit bananas from Latin America to compete on equal terms with imports from the Caribbean.

The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Trumpington)

My Lords, we have long established arrangements which give preferential treatment to our traditional suppliers in the Caribbean. The Community also has commitments to ACP suppliers under the Lomé Convention. The Commission has yet to produce proposals on bananas in the single market but we shall continue to press for arrangements which maintain our trade in bananas with our traditional suppliers.

Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

My Lords, I recognise that Britain has obligations to Caribbean producers, but is my noble friend aware that bananas arrive from the Caribbean under a specially protected regime whereas Latin American bananas are subject to a quota and to a 20 per cent. tariff? Is my noble friend further aware that in Germany, which has a free market, prices are 25 per cent. lower, and per capita consumption is higher, and that therefore the consumer benefits considerably? Does she agree that from 1992 when a single European market comes into force a more level playing field would be more appropriate?

Baroness Trumpington

My Lords, Latin and South American countries benefit from a range of concessions under the EC's generalised system of tariff preferences. Additional concessions were recently granted on a number of products to encourage production of legitimate alternatives to narcotic crops. Bananas were excluded because of Lomé commitments. Dollar bananas enter Germany tariff free. Exemptions specific to Germany were granted in the Treaty of Rome. They are subject to a quota which is roughly equal to demand. Of course, we want the best quality bananas for our people. Quality in all countries is variable, but we have been working with Caribbean producers on a programme to improve quality. The programme has been successful although there is still room for improvement.

Lord Molloy

My Lords, is the Minister aware that there has never been any complaint about the standard of bananas from Latin America? That is not the point. The point made by the noble Viscount, Lord Montgomery, is that with fair trading and with so-called free enterprise Latin America should not be subject to inhibitions which do not apply to the Caribbean. As I understand it, the noble Viscount is saying that there should be fairness on all sides. What is wrong with that?

Baroness Trumpington

My Lords, dollar bananas are important in the UK market. On average, over the past five years they have accounted for 22 per cent. of the market. The Government are firmly committed to maintaining effective preferential access for our traditional suppliers. We have a duty to ensure that those upon whom we have depended for so long are not left unprotected.

Lord Pitt of Hampstead

My Lords, I thank the Minister for affirming the Government's commitment to ACP suppliers under the Lomé Convention. Will she confirm that the Lomé Convention provides that no ACP state shall be placed, as regards access to its traditional markets and advantages in those markets, in a less favourable situation than it has enjoyed in the past or enjoys at present? For many Caribbean countries access to the UK market for their bananas is vital. Is she aware that bananas represent 70 per cent. of Dominica's export earnings; 60 per cent. of St. Lucia's export earnings; 40 per cent. of St. Vincent's export earnings; and that there is no country in central or south America in which bananas represent such a high percentage of their export earnings? Will she further confirm that the banana industry in those islands is in the hands of small farmers and that consequently the crop is more expensive to produce than in the larger states of Latin America?

Noble Lords

Speech!

Lord Pitt of Hampstead

My Lords, it is not a speech, I am asking a question. I am asking the Minister to confirm that the loss of the market can be balanced only by diversification into other crops, which will require several years to fructify, and so any loss of the UK market can only create unnecessary hardship for the people of those islands.

Baroness Trumpington

My Lords, what I and the noble Lord have said bears out the fact that bananas have an important role to play in the economies of the places that he mentioned.