EXPORTERS IN Jamaica are being guided into forming clusters to more effectively penetrate foreign markets, said Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, K.D. Knight.
The country's relatively small producers have difficulty accessing foreign markets on an individual basis, the Minister said. He was addressing members of the Jamaican community in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, where he was attending an African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Council of Ministers summit. "If you export a hundred cases of ackees," he said, "You would waste your time as you would not get enough returns." The concept of clustering is to get exporters to combine shipments, and so share the overhead costs involved. "If exporters shipped a hundred cases of Red Stripe beer, so many case of Appleton rum and ackees, they would start sharing shipping and marketing costs," he said at the discussion. The main requirement is to have some co-ordination in their planning.
HOT PEPPER SAUCE
The country's hot pepper sauce is present in 67 markets, Mr. Knight said. But that has few equals. Members of Botswana's Jamaican community told the Minister that the country's products had good potential markets in Southern Africa and the country had a very strong name recognition.
But they said the only businessman they knew who had visited the region was the Grace, Kennedy chief executive Douglas Orane, and even though some products were on the market, there appeared to be no co-ordinated thrust.
"One of the problems we face is that our business sector in Jamaica has looked northwards," he said. "If it is not the United States and Canada, only one or two will venture beyond to seize the opportunity."
The country's main trading partner is the United States, with other key relationships with Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan and CARICOM.
