Jamaica trade mission to TT launched

THE 20th hosting of the TT Trade and Investment Convention, titled Do Business: Jamaica Mission to Trinidad, got off to a positive start at the TT Chamber of Commerce, Westmoorings on Tuesday.

It was organised by the TT Manufacturers Association, the TT Chamber of Commerce, InvesTT, the Jamaica Promotions Corporation, Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association and other stakeholders. Seven Jamaican manufacturing companies brought their goods for export to TT, with their local counterparts expressing keen interest in the products.

At the breakfast session of the three-day convention, Paula Gopee-Scoon, Minister of Trade and Industry, said TT is heartened to see the companies represented at the event, and the diverse range of products on offer.

Among those companies were Seprod Ltd, which produces goods such as pastas, canned meats, fish and vegetables, dairy products, mineral oil, rubbing alcohol and other pharmaceutical items; Wisynco, which distributes beverages, groceries and synthetic items; Kremi’s wide range of ice cream and icicle flavours, Sankhard Co Ltd, producer of fruit- and vegetable-based condiments; and soup products and Isratech, which produces drip irrigation, energy solutions and waterworks.

Gopee-Scoon said: “This bodes well for the region as our manufacturing entities must grow from strength to strength to survive and excel in the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and the global marketplace.”

She said since the July 2016 meeting between TT and Jamaican prime ministers respectively, on bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest and concern, there was approximately 80 organised business to business meetings convened and TT businesses either secured contracts or significantly advanced potential distribution arrangements and opportunities in the Jamaican market. Companies that indicated particularly positive feedback from these meetings include Kamri Investment Ltd, the TT National Petroleum Marketing Company Ltd (NP), House of Paper, Shazam Enterprises and Investments Ltd, Global Enterprises Company Ltd and Vemco Ltd.” Also the 2018 TT mission to Jamaica saw the two countries agree to focus efforts to reduce and, where possible, remove regulatory obstacles restricting trade, and further explore how Jamaica’s agricultural products can be utilised as inputs into manufacturing in TT at the right price.

Gopee-Scoon said there has been some progress, but work remains to be done and the continued interactions, such as those envisioned during the present trade mission, can serve to bolster and ensure the free flow of trade.

Data from Central Statistical Office, Gopee-Scoon said, indicates that the trade balance with Jamaica from 2013-2018 was positive. It decreased from approximately $5 billion in 2013 to $1.4 billion in 2016 but again rose by 2018 to $2.6 billion.

She added that TT’s exports to Jamaica for 2017 and 2018 were dominated by products in the food and beverage sector, including prepared foods from cereals, biscuits, flavoured waters and other non-alcoholic beverages, while Jamaica’s exports to TT included foods and beverages as well as herbicides,containers and cans of iron or steel, aluminium hydroxide, and eggs.

Richard Pandohie, president of Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA), also saw the trade mission as a welcome move towards a stronger partnership between Jamaica and TT’s productive and import-export sectors, saying, strategic partnerships were integral to effecting change and solving common challenges.

He said: “Caricom has an annual food import bill of USD$4 billion. Some of Caricom’s largest food imports of 2018 were rice at $283 million; chicken parts at $247 million; milk and cream at $158 million; and cheese at $130 million. If we should substitute these four finished products alone with an intra-regional collaborative approach, we could achieve a US$818 million reduction in Caricom’s food import bill.”

Pandohie also said Jamaica and TT combined have an annual GDP of approximately US$37 billion, almost half the Caricom total, and register as the first and third largest exporters in the region.