Growing concerns: A LOOK AT THE CHALLENGES FACING SOUTH AMERICAN AND U.S. GROWERS AND HOW THEY ARE FARING IN AN UNCERTAIN ECONOMIC CLIMATE

摘要

South American flower growers are finding themselves in tough economic times and facing uncertainty about the future of duty-free trade with the United States. These challenges have ripple effects throughout the U.S. floriculture industry, which relies on Colombia and Ecuador for the majority of its imported cut flowers, particularly standards such as roses, carnations, Alstroemerias and spray chrysanthemums. The U.S. Congress in late June passed an eight-month extension to the ANDEAN TRADE PROMOTION AND DRUG ERADICATION ACT (ATPDEA). which guarantees duty-free exports to the United States from four Andean nations: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. This extension gives South American flower producers a brief reprieve. But concerns about the future of such flower exports to the United States remain close to the surface. The eight-month extension expires Feb. 29, 2008.