Gopee-Scoon: Coronavirus won’t cut trade with China

TT’s trade with China should not be affected by the rapidly spreading novel coronavirus.

Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon said this during a media briefing after a tour of New Wave Marketing, Calcutta Settlement, Couva on Tuesday.

“You are talking about trade in goods,” She said. “This is a human-to-human transmitted virus and I don’t think anybody touches products. I don’t know. Wuhan is a manufacturing province which is where the coronavirus really is.”She said she did not believe coronavirus transmission was “human to product or product to human,” so concluded, “So I can’t see it affecting (trade)”On New Wave Marketing, which is a leading wholesaler and manufacturer of industrial, commercial and domestic plumbing materials, she said she was impressed by the company’s standards and operations which adhered to National Sanitation Foundation standards and ASTM International Standards.

So you are doing a lot of this here– quality product, fit for the export market – you are employing people from the area and you are poised for growth. So we are very pleased with this activity.”The company’s headquarters sits on five acres of land and employs 55 permanent employees who work three eight-hour shifts at the factory.New Wave exports to St Kits and Puerto Rico and recently got a contract to supply pipes to the Dominican Republic.