The UK gave priority access to Commonwealth Caribbean bananas, and restricted imports of dollar bananas in order to ensure a remunerative return from the market for Caribbean growers. Because of overriding problems of size, climate and terrain , Caribbean banana producers cannot compete on price with the vast, flat plantations and more fertile soil of Latin America, where production and marketing is highly integrated, in many cases controlled by the dominant North American multinationals, and benefits from substantial economies of scale. Total ACP export earnings from bananas equal just 4 per cent of the sales of these three large companies. The ACP account for only 20 per cent of the EU market, where Latin American bananas still predominate. Caribbean exports to the EU represent under 10 per cent of the EU market and under 3 per cent of world trade.
Caribbean states are uniquely dependent on bananas for their economic survival.
For the small Windward Islands of Dominica , St Lucia , and St Vincent , bananas provide over half of all export earnings. They also contribute about 16 per cent of GDP in St. Lucia and 17 per cent in St. Vincent and Dominica. This is a degree of dependence unmatched anywhere in the world. Moreover, the trade depends entirely on the EU market, since only the EU provides the special arrangements necessary for Caribbean exports to survive. The EU has recognised the traditional importance of bananas to the Caribbean under successive Lom Agreements and in the EU Banana Regime .