CASE STUDY - World Trade (Bananas)

Question 1

Where are banana exports mainly concentrated?

Answer 1

• Latin America
• Caribbean

Question 2

What is the global pattern of banana trade like?

Answer 2

• less developed countries export the most bananas
• largest importers are the EU and the USA
• previously dominated by 4 TNC’s (Dole, Del Monte, Chiquita and Fyffes)
• exporters usually sell their produce to TNC’s, who retail them in developed countries

Question 3

Explain the trade war

Answer 3

• EU countries negotiated with previous colonies
• many were banana producers
• these countries were given special treatment to supply to EU markets
• the agreement extended to Caribbean countries
• since the largest exporters were mainly latin American countries, the EU wanted to provide a space for the smaller islands to trade freely without such large competition
• the USA filed a complaint to the WTO about unfair trade, since the USA had TNC’s which controlled most of the trade from the Latin American countries
• led to a trade war, where the USA increased tariffs and set quotas on a range of EU products
• the Geneva banana agreement in 2009