the banana wars

Question 1

when did the EU create the single market?

Answer 1

in 1992

Question 2

through the creation of the EU single market what did this mean in terms of trading?

Answer 2

that all members of the bloc must agree on getting produce from the same producer

Question 3

where did the UK get most of its bananas from and why?

Answer 3

from the carribean islands

colonial past

Question 4

what company did bananas flow from carribean to the uk?

Answer 4

the Geest company

Question 5

who were the producers in the carribean?

Answer 5

small independant farmers who’s major source of income came from the export to uk

Question 6

who is the largest consumer of bananas?

Answer 6

the EU

Question 7

where did the EU import its bananas from?

Answer 7

from latin american plantations owned by multinational companies such as chiquta and del monte

Question 8

what did chiquita and del monte do to the workers and environment?

Answer 8

payed workers the bare minimum for long hours
used chemical and pesticides with no regard to deformation in population or environment
made massive profits whilst leaving workers poor

Question 9

why was there a dispute between UK and EU?

Answer 9

due to being a single market and the fact that they could not have any special relations outside the EU for trade purposes

Question 10

why do EU purchase from MNC?

Answer 10

they are the cheapest

Question 11

what did the UK and EU decide in 1993?

made a solution

Answer 11

that they would buy the cheapest bananas from the MNCs but also from the carribean islands and africa
(controlled by quotas)

Question 12

due to UKs and EU 1993 decision what did chiquita do?

Answer 12

they believed that this was an unfair trade agreement due to the fact that their bananas were the cheapest but were not being bought in large quantities
began talking to the US governemnts

Question 13

why did the US government back the MNCs?

Answer 13

because their was less income coming in the country as less bananas being bought

Question 14

what did the US govvernemnt do in retaliation?

Answer 14

they put large import taxes on product from Europe such as scotch whisky and cheese
also connected the WTO

Question 15

what did they WTO do about the dispute?

Answer 15

said that trade and disrimination of products should not be based on social or environmental grounds but solely on economical (cheapest price/

Question 16

what did WHO instruct EU to do?

Answer 16

abandon their policy

meaning that EU gets bananas form the latin americans

Question 17

due to not exporting the uk anymore how much has the amount of bananas exports reduced by in carribean?

Answer 17

almost halved

Question 18

what jobs do the people in carribean now do?

Answer 18

take part in the production of illegal drugs such as cannabis

Question 19

why can’t carribean fight back?

Answer 19

independant farmers do not have resources or size

Question 20

what chemical in commonly used in the MNC farms?

Answer 20

DBCP

Question 21

what can DBCP cause?

Answer 21

deformations like babies to have large heads or missing limbs
sometimes death

Question 22

what are environmental implications for the MNC success?

Answer 22

chemicals into rivers
exploitation of work force
defrestation
lack of protective clothing

Question 23

since the war what has been created in order to help places such as the carribean?

Answer 23

social movement known as fair trade

Question 24

how much does bananas revenue make in dollar a year

Answer 24

8 billion