A deal which will substantially increase competition for Caribbean bananas in the EU has been finalised. On February 3rd a majority in the European parliament approved the agreement—first reached in December 2009 between the EU and the US, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela—which reduces import duties on bananas produced in Latin America by 35% over six years, potentially boosting the competitiveness of large producers in the region over smaller growers in the Caribbean (and those in Africa and the Pacific). Under the deal, the EU will gradually cut import tariffs on Latin American-produced bananas in eight stages, from €176/tonne currently to €114 by 2017. In return, the US and Latin American side will drop the actions brought against the EU before the WTO for infringing the rules of international trade. Bananas from the Caribbean, as well as from other African and Pacific producers, will continue to enter the EU market, the world's largest market for the fruit, duty free under a special agreement for ten former European colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP). Once approved by the WTO later in 2011, the deal will mark a victory for the world's largest banana producers in a trade dispute, labelled the "banana wars", which has lasted nearly 20 years. Despite the ruling—which is considered a major blow to Caribbean producers—the EU may decide to boost its compensation aid to those countries most affected by the increase in competition. In the Caribbean, these would include Belize, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Suriname. The EU is already providing €200m (US$254m) in aid to ACP banana producers in the 2010-14 period. No indication was given of the amount by which this figure would be increased beyond 2014. Although bananas are an important export for the Caribbean, nearly three-quarters of all bananas consumed in Europe currently come from Latin America. According to data from the European Commission, the EU imported nearly 4.8m tonnes of bananas in 2008 worth a total of €2.9bn (US$3.7bn).