§ Lord Carterasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their best estimate of the likely fall in returns for Afro-Caribbean Pacific banana producers and importers were the proposals contained in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food discussion paper Bananas: 1992 to be adopted by the European Community.
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Trumpington)Our objective is to maintain viable banana industries in the Caribbean beyond 1992. Returns to banana producers and importers in the Single Market will depend on many variables in a wide range of producing and consuming countries, including the competitive behaviour of commercial operations, changing patterns of trade, banana quality, exchange rate fluctuations, elasticities of supply and demand.
It is impossible to predict with any certainty how all the variables would behave if the ideas in the MAFF discussion paper were adopted. It is important to remember that it is not a formal UK position paper, but merely a contribution to the debate. In order to cater for a wide range of unforeseeable circumstances, 4WA these ideas include a safeguard provision which would allow the Commission to intervene in order to prevent a breakdown in the satisfactory operation in the market and arrangements to monitor prices and market trends.