§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list in respect of imports of bananas into(a) the European Economic Community and (b) the United Kingdom (i) the Community quotas in percentage, approximate tonnage, and value of imports of each of category A, B and C of imports, together with the principal producers in each category, (ii) the approximate difference between the production and selling price to consumers of dollar, category A, and African, Caribbean and Pacific country, category B, African, Caribbean and Pacific country, bananas and (iii) the tonnage and value of banana exports from each Commonwealth source exported to the United Kingdom in the year before and each year since the introduction of the 1993 banana regime. [13388]
§ Mr. Morley(i) Twelve African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries which traditionally supplied bananas to the EU have individual export allocations under the EU regime. These total 857,700 tonnes of bananas. The countries are Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica, Belize, Suriname, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Somalia, Cape Verde and Madagascar.
Other imports of bananas enter the EU within an annual tariff quota; since the enlargement of the EU in 1995 this has been set at 2.553 million tonnes. This figure includes a small allocation for ACP imports outside the traditional quotas. There are three types of licences for importing bananas within the tariff quota: Category A licences (66.5 per cent. of the tariff quota) are allocated on the basis of past trade in third country and non-traditional ACP bananas; Category B licences (30 per cent. of the tariff quota) are allocated on the basis of past trade in EU or traditional ACP bananas; Category C licences (3.5 per cent.) are allocated to traders who do not have a record of trade in bananas before 1993. The tariff quota licences can be used freely to import third-country or non-traditional ACP bananas, i.e. their use is not linked to imports from a particular supplying country. The principal 132W suppliers of bananas within the tariff quota are Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama.
The table shows imports from ACP and third country sources into the EU and UK between 1992 and 1996:
UK and EU1 imports of ACP and non ACP2 fresh bananas Value (in thousands of ECU3) and volume (in tonnes) 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 ACP imports UK Value 224,921 232,142 216.610 216,987 239,559 Volume 363,274 377,734 348,488 381,315 411,857 EU Value 407,970 437,728 439,612 417,394 437,442 Volume 680,185 748,109 728,064 765,489 802,055 Non ACP imports2 UK Value4 37,901 33,034 45,899 46,880 47,653 Volume 92,524 77,113 93,241 100,769 88,347 EU Value4 973,392 902,595 1,088,005 1,279,786 1,390,653 Volume 2,367,348 2,220,521 2,122,999 2,399,162 2,689,041 Notes:
The above figures were extracted from the EUROSTAT Comext database on 30 October 1997 and may be subject to future amendment.
1Up to 1994 figures are for the EU12, thereafter the EU15.
2 Not including the Canary Islands, Guadeloupe and Martinique, which are part of the EU.
3Animal ECU/£ exchange rates are as follows: 1992: 0.7376; 1993: 0.7800; 1994: 0.7736; 1995: 0.8290; 1996: 0.8108;
4Values do not include import tariffs.
Source:
European Commission.
(ii) Information on production prices of bananas for ACP suppliers or dollar suppliers is not available. Average UK retail prices for bananas from all sources since 1992 were as follows:
Pence per pound 1992 47.99 1993 45.56 1994 45.15 1995 41.48 1996 42.17 I regret that no information is available on the average price paid by EU consumers.
(iii) Volumes and values of imports from Commonwealth countries into the United Kingdom since 1992 are set out in the table below:
133W
UK imports of fresh bananas from Commonwealth countries Value (in thousands of ECU1) and volume (in tonnes2) 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 Dominica Value 28,926 28,336 22,761 17,577 21,633 Volume 44,658 46,498 37,819 31,773 39,307 St. Lucia Value 70,810 65,878 51,062 53,758 61,982 Volume 111,348 106,224 85,741 99,599 106,670
UK imports of fresh bananas from Commonwealth countries Value (in thousands of ECU1) and volume (in tonnes2) 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 St. Vincent Value 35,746 32,538 17,455 25,593 25,476 Volume 56,233 53,380 28,236 46,852 44,175 Grenada Value 3,850 4,039 3,265 2,394 1,133 Volume 6,011 6,720 5,325 4,556 2,007 Jamaica Value 46,625 46,932 52,424 49,699 52,594 Volume 74,775 77,057 76,401 83,824 89,496 Belize Value 15,064 23,643 28,172 24,215 25,402 Volume 28,323 38,366 46,980 42,033 52,130 Cameroon Value 5,127 5,999 13,184 13,217 19,473 Volume 6,702 10,847 25,046 20,457 25,008 Ghana Value 118 255 166 50 233 Volume 91 181 139 51 189 Total value 206,806 207,618 188,490 186,502 207,926 Total volume 328,140 339,273 305,686 329,146 358,982 Notes:
The above figures were extracted from the EUROSTAT Comext database on 30 October 1997 and may be subject to future amendment.
1Annual ECU/£ exchange rates are as follows: 1992: 0.7376; 1993: 0.7800; 1994: 0.7736; 1995: 0.8290; 1996: 0.8108.
2Volumes released into free circulation in the UK.
Source:
European Commission.
§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he is taking to protect the Caribbean banana producers market in the United Kingdom and Europe; and if he will make a statement. [13664]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 3 November 1997]: The Government are considering the World Trade Organisation (WTO) findings on the EU banana regime in liaison with the Commission in Brussels, who have the principal responsibility for the Community's response.
UK fishing fleet: MAGP III objectives (as revised for MAGP IV) and position at 31 December 1996 Segment MAGP III objective Position at end 1996 MAGP III objective Position at end 1996 Shortfall from revised objectives (per cent.)1 GRT GRT kW kW GRT kW Over 10 metre vessels Pelagic gears 24,323 27,801 82,168 71,876 13 –14 Beam trawls 19,004 22,104 91,140 117,616 14 23 Demersal, seines, nephrops2 78,195 75,570 422,876 400,127 —3 —6 Lines and nets 13,134 13,613 67,364 51,977 4 —30 Shellfish mobile 8,394 8,504 51,232 55,648 1 8 Shellfish fixed 5,264 5,387 35,895 44,463 2 19 Distant water 10,204 12,423 22,384 26,853 18 17 Under 10 metre vessels3 22,697 20,851 286,154 286,367 –9 0 Total 181,216 186,262 1,059,212 1,054,927 3 0 1A negative percentage figure represents the over-achievement of the objective.
2 For MAGP III, there were separate segments for demersal trawls and seines and for nephrops gears. The revised objectives and positions at end–1996 were:
Demersal trawls and seines—GRT objective: 59,470; GRT position: 64,534; Power objective: 316,399; Power position: 332,337.
Nephrops—GRT objective: 18,725; GRT position: 11,036; Power objective: 106,477; Power position: 67,790.
3 The previous non-active/non-TAC segment has been eliminated by redistributing the vessels and related objectives across the remaining over 10 metre segments.
134WWe are disappointed by the WTO ruling but we accept that the Community must now set about revising the EU arrangements to bring them into conformity with WTO rules.
The UK's commitment to banana production in the Caribbean is a long-standing one. This Government are in no doubt about the vital importance of the banana industry to the Caribbean and will continue to ensure that the interests of the Caribbean banana growers are fully recognised in the negotiations on the new WTO-consistent arrangements. The Caribbean must be given the opportunity to prove that it can sustain a viable industry committed to providing a good quality product at a competitive price to the European consumer.