Analysis of the flows tallied up by Eurostat shows a record British craving for these cooking bananas.
Trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear is nothing new. In every case, it is the lure of bigger profits which leads to someone crossing the line. In view of the sums at stake, we might well query the case of the plantain banana in the United Kingdom in 2016.
Indeed, European plantain imports have been relatively stable for years. Since 2012, the EU-28 have imported between 73 000 and 86 000 t of this vegetable-cum-fruit. So it was quite a surprise in 2016 when this amount leapt up by 53 % to 131 000 t! And it was Colombia, which shares the market with Ecuador, which was on fire. The Latin American origin actually doubled its plantain exports to the EU. Which really is bizarre, since at the same time, Colombian Customs remained impassive, announcing a figure comparable to those of previous years.
Upon closer examination, it turns out that it was the United Kingdom which imported this surplus of plantain banana, during the 1st half of 2016: dessert banana and plantain banana, much of a muchness really. Why split hairs over a few thousand tonnes? Well, because in the eyes of Customs regulations, things are very different. In 2016, the dessert banana from Colombia was subject to a Customs duty of 103 euros/tonne, whereas the plantain banana is duty-free.
Ultimately, this is an expensive bill, amounting to 4.7 million euros. It was doubtless just a Customs declaration error. We can’t ask every Customs agent to be able to distinguish a dessert banana from a cooking banana. So to facilitate the job of the importers, forwarding agents and Her Majesty’s services, we will reiterate the Customs codes, for no charge:
- Dessert banana: 08 03 90 10
- Plantain banana: 08 03 10 10
As for the 4.7 million euros, the Chief Negotiator for Brexit need only add it to the 40 to 60 billion euros bill that the EU wants to charge the United Kingdom.
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