Pascal Lamy pulled a real coup. The shock caused by his statement on the future of the common market organisation of banana (CMOB) resulted in many people taking positions. The Guayaquil seminar held by the Ecuadorean Banana Exporters' Association (AEBE) on 29 and 30 November 2004 was an opportunity for governments and trade operators to discuss the subject. Three approaches vied with each other: the status quo or continuation of the existing system, the fastest possible switch to a tariff system combined with duty of less than 75 euros per tonne or a midway solution consisting of a decrease in duty in the medium term. The different systems are often evaluated and validated from a price gap viewpoint. And what if the truth were elsewhere? For example in close knowledge of the trade mechanisms and behaviours on a market which, if suddenly liberalised, would break completely with the rules of operation generated by our old quota regime and on which our way of thinking is based.