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Ecuador wants regional bloc against German plan Aldi to lower banana value
Posted On 25 Oct 2018
Ecuadornews:
Ecuador, the world’s largest banana exporter, is pushing for Latin America to act in a common block against the plan of the German supermarket chain Aldi to pay one euro less for the fruit box.
“We have to structure an external front with all the producing countries of the region to prevent Aldi from doing this inequality,” Eduardo Ledesma, director of the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (Aebe), told AFP.
He pointed out that Aldi, with stores in Europe and the United States, intends to apply the “unilateral and unfair” decision to pay one euro less per box of Latin American bananas in 2019, which would even be a “para-tariff” measure within the European Union (EU).
“In no case can this reduction of one euro per box be allowed because it will affect the entire banana chain,” Ledesma added. Banana countries in Latin America, such as Colombia and Costa Rica, will analyze the issue on Wednesday in the framework of an annual international forum on the sector, in the Ecuadorian port of Guayaquil (southwest, Aebe headquarters), the representative said.
“We must draw up regional strategies,” said the Ecuadorian leader, adding that Latin America controls 75% of the world’s export of fruit. He argued that in the free market “you can do what you want, but that power to do what you want has a limit, and you have to claim.”
Ecuador, the world’s leading banana exporter, aims to close 2018 with the sale of 330 million boxes (43 pounds) after placing some 265 million boxes until October. Its biggest markets are the EU, especially Germany and Russia, according to the Aebe.
Behind oil, bananas are Ecuador’s second traditional export item, which in 2017 generated $ 3,035 million and 2,129 million between January and August 2018, according to the Central Bank. (I)
