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Dalou Wong, left, production manager at Crimson Dawn, points out something about a garment to Monica Shackleford, centre, serger operator,. Paulette Rhoden, general manager looks on.
Howard Walker, Staff Reporter
LOCAL MANUFACTURERS seem jittery about the impending CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) citing differences in certain regimes in the various countries of the region, that could pose a problem to economic integration.
Several members of the Jamaica Manufacturing Association (JMA) have also cited the serious challenges the local manufacturing sector faces in trying to penetrate overseas markets.
"I don't have any hope for the single market," said Charles Henderson-Davis, Managing Director of LA India Cosmetics, which deals in skin and hair care products.
"Our import duties are not the same, our foreign exchange rates are not the same and our interest rates are not the same," he noted. "We are borrowing at 20 odd per cent and Trinidad and Barbados are borrowing at six and seven per cent."
The CSME which aims to create a borderless economic space for the free movement of goods, services and people, is set to come on stream by 2005.
Henderson-Davis, an exporter with over 40 years experience, says he has no problem exporting to England, France and Germany, but noted that he has difficulty exporting to CARICOM countries.
"I have problems at home (CARICOM). It's not a level playing field with the tax situation. The duties and the foreign exchange are posing a big problem. We can't compete with that," he added.
One baking sector source who also exports products said the single market can be a good idea "depending on who you are".
"If you are from Trinidad then it a great idea. If you are from Barbados, it's a stupendous idea, if you are from Jamaica it's a waste of time," he said.
He continued: "Every country in the English speaking Caribbean loves Jamaica because we have the largest population. That's why they are lobbying for the single market. Jamaica just falls in because it sounds good. Maybe in the CCJ it make sense. We are not ready for CARICOM single market or FTAA in 2005."
UPBEAT
But there are manufacturers within the JMA who are upbeat about the CSME and its possibilities. Paulette Rhoden, CEO of Crimson Dawn Ltd, manufacturers of textile and sewn products, has high hopes for the CSME.
"We are hoping that the single market will open and make it easier for people to move their goods up and down, and will be less problematic with documentation across the region," she said.
Mrs. Rhoden who has been an exporter since 1980, speaking in her role as director for Trade and Trade Promotions for the JMA, urged the local manufacturers to be more aggressive and efficient in the face of the globalisation threat.
"I am a bit disappointed that we as manufacturers have not been aggressive enough to penetrate the CARICOM market," she said.
Mrs. Rhoden noted that a lot of the local maufacturers say the the Caribbean market is not big enough. "But I beg to differ, because I have been out there since 1980 and 'every mickle mek a muckle'."
She says that she has no real problem penetrating the overseas market.
Among those concerned about the challenges likely to be posed by the CSME are Trevor Armstrong, Managing Director of Latin American exporters Ltd dealers in insecticides and animal health products who thinks that the biggest challenges facing the industry are security and electricity. "These things make it very uncompetitive," he said, stating how difficult it is with the electricity rate which causes overhead expenses to skyrocket. He noted too the bureaucratic hurdles in exporting to countries outside of the region and the lack of protection from the government for manufacturers.
"You have to register the products which is expensive, plus the acquisition of a lawyer who also charges a fee," said Mr. Armstrong. "We have opened our market completely and our Government has bragged about it but others have kept a tight lid on their market to protect local interests," he added.
But while several manufacturers are lobbying for Government protection, Delano Franklyn, Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foriegn Trade, said they can only keep these kinds of protection until December 2004.
"Some countries can only do it for a period of time but eventually they will not be able to do so. It won't be tolerated much longer, the idea for it is to be phased out.
"Instead of moving to implement it we are pressuring other countries to remove it. Very soon all of us will be negotiating from the same position around the bargaining table. The simplistic way is to implement non tariff barriers at this time," he said.
