21.   Caribbean countries are worried about a World Trade Organization ruling that European preferences handicap Latin American banana producers and their U.S. distributors.

22.   Caricom is in a dispute with the United States and Latin American banana producers over European Union trade policies that favor Caribbean banana producers.

23.   Chiquita and other U.S. banana exporting companies have threatened the protected status of the Caribbean banana producers in the lucrative European Union market.

24.   Failing communications prevented authorities from issuing damage estimates, but banana producers said they had lost their entire crop.

25.   He said Caribbean banana producers pose no threat to the United States because most bananas sold by U.S. companies are grown in Latin America.

26.   NAFTA has cut into Caribbean textile exports to the United States, and Washington is fighting to eliminate European market advantages enjoyed by Caribbean banana producers.

27.   NAFTA has cut into Caribbean textile exports, and Washington is fighting to eliminate European market advantages enjoyed by Caribbean banana producers.

28.   St. Lucia, along with other Caribbean banana producers, is anxiously awaiting a World Trade Organization ruling that could end their preferential access to the European market.

29.   That policy has worked against banana producers in Latin and Central America, including U.S.-owned operations.

30.   The Cincinnati-based company is the biggest U.S. banana producer.