Tariffs to impact Greece's peaches
A fifth of industry's exports go to U.S.
By: Lefteris Papadimas
Reuters
NAQOUSSA, Greece - July is harvest time in Greece's northern peach orchards, where pickers mount wooden ladders and carefully place the fruit in creates ready for factories that peel., slice and can them, often for consumers in the United States
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But this year, [2025] the harvest s filled with uncertainty after President Donald Trump announced a 30% tariff on European products that has sent shivers through industries from wine to olive-oil and vehicles.
..... Peach farmers and factory owners are worried that the tariffs will dent demand for their product just as they are preparing to send their fresh harvest overseas, giving them little time to adapt or find alternative markets,.
..... Greece is the world's biggest exported of canned peaches, about a fifth of which goes to the United States, its second-biggest market after Europe.
..... Peaches, like some other goods, are already subject to a U.S. import Levey of 17%.
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"Now is even worse because it finds us at the peak, where the entire plant and all the production lines are working at full speed," said Lazaros Loannidis, co-owner of a peach and fruit processing plant near Naoussa that sends about 40% of its product to big U.S. companies like Dole.
..... The fertile plain of Central Macedonia in Greece is one massive peach orchard. A sea of pink greets visitors in the spring, when the trees blossom.
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This week, [07/18/2025] trucks offloaded crate after crate brimming with thousands of yellow peaches at Ionnidis' plant, where they were loaded onto conveyor belts for processing.
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Greece's annual turnover form exports of canned peaches and other packaged peach products amounts to about $7000 million, with about $140 million coming form the U.S. market.
..... Exports to the United States represent about 4% of Greece's total exports.
..... Canned peach and peach derivatives, Olivers and olive oil are the three top exported agriculture produces to the United States, brining home nearly 4600 million annually.
..... More than 20,000 families, farmers and workers make their income from peach farms and peach factories in central Macedonia, according to Kostas Apostolou, head of the Greek Canners Association.
..... "Our size might be small as a percentage for the company or the EU but for the region it's a big source on income, vital for its survival."
..... "For the past sex months, since Trump took office, we have been in a period of an absolute turmoil," Apostolou said.
..... He said that the only alternative is to diversify exports to Mercosur countries in South America or to Mexico and India and urged the EU to sign a trade agreement with those countries.
..... The EU was panning to approve a trade deal with Mercosur but has faced opposition from some countries.