Bananas case study

Question 1

How many tonnes of Bananas were exported in 2013?

Answer 1

16.5 million tonnes (mainly exported from Latin America and Caribbean)
5th most traded agricultural commodity

Question 2

List the biggest exporters of Bananas:

Answer 2

1- Ecuador
2- Belgium
3- Colombia
4- Costa Rica

Question 3

List the biggest importers of bananas:

Answer 3

1- USA
2- Belgium
3- Germany
4- Russian Federation

Question 4

Environmental impacts of banana plantations:

Answer 4

-Deforestation (To clear the lands for the bananas to grow)
-Waste (Per every 1 tonnes of banana produced there is 2 tonnes of waste)
-Soil fertility damaged (due to contaminants)
-Pesticides –> Fungicides, insecticides, herbicides. –> Can cause eutrophication and damage marine/aquatic life.

Question 5

Why did the Banana trade war start?

Answer 5

In 1975, when EU countries agreed a deal with former colonial countries. - The Lomé convention

Latin American TNC’s felt this was unfair and then filed a complaint to WTO in 1992,

in 1997 the WTO ordered against the EU and the convention to stop - this did not work.

Resulting in trade war between USA and EU, Pressure from TNC’s (Mainly Chiquita) resulted in US government imposing sanctions on EU products (e.g. Peconno cheese increased tariff).

Question 6

How did the banana trade war end?

Answer 6

In 2009 a compromise was met, EU agreed to gradually reduce tariffs on Latin American bananas, agreement was ratified in 2012.

Question 7

Outline the Lomé convention

Answer 7

Lomé convention was with 71 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (many were banana producers). These countries were given special and differential treatment with preferential tariff free import quotas to EU markets.