Grenadian Prime Minister Keith Mitchell has expressed his disappointment at the World Trade Organisation decision to declare a new tarrif by the EU on imported bananas. The WTO backed a claim brought by Latin American countries, who argued the EU tariff would have a "devastating effect" on their economies and exports. Under a EU system set for launch in January 2006, imports faced a tariff of 230 euros ($280.30) a tonne. The new tariff had aimed to safeguard exports from countries in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group. Most were former colonies and for years their banana crop had received preferential treatment. Prime Minister Mitchell said the decision will seriously disrupt the Winward Islands banana industry. "Bananas are very much an important element in our economic activity particularly in the countries of Dominica, St Lucia and St Vincent," he said. "Having to deal with some of the major economic problems confronting us, for example, the disasters our country has been facing in Grenada and the problems we're facing with the agriculture sector in general." "To have this on top of all the difficulties we've been having is clearly not a very good sign and will certainly create a problem of confidence on the part of farmers and on the part of the sub region and will definitely affect our agricultural sector." 'Market access' Currently Latin American exports to the EU are limited with the duty per tonne set at 75 euros for the first 2.7 million tonnes of exports, rising after that to 680 euros per tonne. Under the new regime, ACP producers would have continued to export bananas duty-free. Proposals to replace quotas with higher duties would have cost producers more and threatened livelihoods, the group of Latin American countries had claimed. A report by the WTO said the new tariff "would not result in at least maintaining total market access" for Latin American exporters. It also questioned the way in which the EU arrived at its decision to impose the 230 euros charge, but it did not suggest a new figure. Latin American producers welcomed the decision and Brussels now has 10 days to enter discussions with the nine Latin American exporters. "We will start consultations with interested parties without delay," EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said. "I hope that everyone will cooperate in finding a mutually acceptable solution within the strict deadline set by the WTO." Banana wars Meanwhile a statement from the European Commission added that if the two sides fail to reach agreement it would request a second round of arbitration. Following a series of rows in the 1990s, known as the "banana wars", the EU was forced to introduce a new set of tariffs for the fruit by 1 January 2006, as the present system was regarded as discriminatory towards US and Latin American companies. However, in the latest WTO case the Latin American producers, namely Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Brazil, Nicaragua and Venezuela, argued that the new rate broke a WTO-brokered accord that the changes should "at least maintain" their access to the EU market. Latin American producers currently make up about 60% of the market with African and Caribbean producers taking a further 20%. EU-grown bananas, mainly from Spanish and French islands, make up the final 20%. Reprinted from bbccaribbean.com