Main agricultural commodities of economic interest to ACP countries

Sugar

Sugar is a key example of the EU's preferential trade relations with ACPs. For many years the EU has provided preferential access to its market for sugar imported from ACP countries and India. Specific trade regimes have been applied, in particular the "Sugar Protocol" and the EBA.

The Sugar Protocol was a bilateral agreement between 20 ACP countries and the EU, initiated in 1975. The EU undertook to import a fixed quantity of sugar (1.3 million tonnes in total per year) duty free, at a guaranteed price linked to the EC institutional price. There is a similar agreement with India to import 10,000 tonnes.

The opening up of the vast and profitable EU market has led the Community to terminate the Sugar Protocol under the procedure laid down in Article 10 thereof. The market is being opened up to the ACP countries in stages:

• until 30 September 2009: the terms offered by the Sugar Protocol were maintained;
• from 1 October 2009 to 30 September 2015: ACPs have free access to the market the only restriction being an automatic safeguard clause for non-LDC ACPs;
• from 1 October 2015: there will be free access to the market for all ACP countries under EPAs, with the general safeguard clause remaining applicable

The new trade arrangements are laid down in Commission Regulation (EC) No 828/2009 . They concern both:

• the special arrangements for the least-developed countries (under Everything but Arms initiative) and
• the trade regime applicable to ACPs under the Economic Partnership Agreements, including the specific provisions foreseen for the management of the transitional safeguard mechanism for sugar for the ACP Non-Least Developed countries.;

 

Bananas

The EU is the largest consumer and importer of bananas in the world. About 80% of EU imports come from Latin America and 20% from ACP countries. The EU is the destination for practically all ACP banana exports.

Since 1 January 2006, the "Everything But Arms" initiative grants duty-free quota-free access for bananas from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to the EU market. Non-LDC ACP countries benefit from duty-free and quota-free access under the EPA trade regime since 1 January 2008. All ACP banana exporters concluded negotiations on a full or interim EPA at the end of 2007.

The duty- and quota-free regime for bananas, which started on 1 January 2008, confirmed that ACPs will benefit from a switch away from a quota regime. In 2008, overall banana imports into the EU rose by 3.7 per cent, with the part from ACPs growing by 9 per cent over 2007 levels. In 2009, exports increased further by 4,3 per cent.

With the deal made on 15 December 2009 at the WTO in Geneva on bananas, the longest dispute in the history of the WTO was ended. This deal also includes an approach on tropical products and preference erosion in the DDA agreed among the EU, the Latin American countries and the ACPs.