By 2020, European Union (EU) import rules for banana producers in Latin America will be different.
This is because the EU will remove several of the taxes on this product, thus reducing the toll that the producers have to pay to enter their fruit to this region.
In that year, 96% of Latin American exporters, including Costa Rica, will pay 75 euros per ton, a tax much lower than the one currently paid, according to the National Banana Corporation (Corbana).
At present, there is a banana stabilization mechanism, whereby a maximum reference quantity is established for each country, and if a country exceeds that quantity, the mechanism enables the suspension of the tariff preference and the application of the bound tariff by the World Organization Of Commerce.
However, once the market is open, countries like Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Peru, Nicaragua and Honduras will be able to send as many bananas as they can, with practically no restrictions.
"The definition of a reference quantity of importance for each signatory country was a measure that the EU established in order to protect its Community producers: the Canary Islands, Madeira, Guadeloupe and Martinique and the European excolonies," explained Jorge Sauma, president of Corbana.
In the case of Costa Rica's exports, it is governed by the negotiation of the EU Association Agreement with Central America, implemented in 2013, establishing that the banana entry fee would be gradually reduced from 145 euros to 75 euros Per ton in 2020.
