June 22 2005, 09:18 Agrarian Marketing Project

European Union defends from сheap strawberry of China origin

To the opinion of Jerzy Pilarczyk, the Minister of Agriculture of Poland, there is a real possibility that in July 2005 the EU countries will set up the barriers for the import of frozen strawberry from the other countries.

The expansion of the producers from non-EU countries in the inner strawberry market worries the EU countries. One of the most aggressive strawberry suppliers to the EU countries is China; it actively enlarges the presence on market. The prices suggested by the China suppliers are competitive to such extent that many producers in Poland, which is the largest strawberry supplier in the EU, can not compete with these prices.

As the Minister said, the idea of the protection of the inner EU strawberry market is supported by such countries as Spain, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Portugal and Great Britain. Two variants of market protection are considered now: to set the minimal price on import and the import dues, or to introduce quotas on strawberry import to EU. Poland supports the first variant which, to the opinion of Mr. Pilarczyk, could provide the EU producers with the possibility to compete with each kilo of imported frozen strawberry.