Dole Blasts U.S.-EU Accord Over Banana-Import Rules

Dole Food Co., the world’s largest fruit and vegetable producer, blasted a settlement between the U.S. and European Union over EU banana-import rules, saying the accord favors rival Chiquita Brands International Inc. The agreement, which allocates shares of the EU banana market to producers from various parts of the world before the quotas are scrapped in 2006, is anti-free trade, said Westlake Village-based Dole.

“This action is inconsistent with the American free-enterprise system,” Dole Chairman and Chief Executive David Murdock said. “It gives one company, Chiquita Brands International Inc., a dominant, fixed market share of the European Union’s closed quota market.”

Dole didn’t say whether it plans to challenge the agreement, but its complaint casts a shadow over the settlement of one of the longest and most contentious trade disputes between the U.S. and Europe.

The dispute dragged on so long that Chiquita’s market value was almost wiped out, even as the company was backed against the EU by the Clinton and Bush administrations.

Murdock suggested that the settlement was spurred by Chiquita’s government connections, saying that “vested interests along with their political influence” are blocking free trade in the EU.

Dole complained that Chiquita will benefit from the agreement because the EU will allocate licenses based on market share that companies held in Europe from 1994 to 1996, when Chiquita was the largest single seller of bananas to the EU.