MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brussels drops tariffs for 75,000 tonnes of Falklands squid

Falklands fishing vessels at Vigo Port (Pic O. Vasquez)

The European Commission has reached an agreement to allow 75,000 tonnes of Falklands loligo to be imported tariff-free into the European Union, according to reports in Galician daily Faro de Vigo.

It is thought that the autonomous tariff quota (ATQ) will come into force this year, but will not be in force in time to apply to 60,000 tonnes of loligo caught during the first 2021 season, says the paper.

ATQs allow a certain amount of a given product to be imported into the European Union with a reduced or zero-tariff. Spain and the EU is the main destination for the overwhelming majority of Falklands loligo.

According to Faro de Vigo, some 59,500 tonnes of loligo entered the EU through Galician ports in 2020, and 84,000 in 2019