McNair Limited has a long record of achievement and was a recipient of the $5 million award for exports back in 1983. Here Michael G. McNair receives the exporter's award from Prime Minister Hugh Shearer. - File
AFTER NEARLY 40 years in the export business, McNair Limited, headed by founder Michael McNair, and the company's staff of 40, has become one of the big players in the food export industry.
The company was inducted into the Jamaica Exporters' Association (JEA) 'Million Dollar Club' for having attained significant levels of export. It operates a packing house at the Agricultural Marketing Corporation (AMC) complex in Kingston and exports under the company's Highland Pride and Sun Pack labels and has also won or has been runner-up in its class in most years of the JEA's annual export awards.
While McNair is involved in the packaging and shipment of fresh fruits and vegetables, with most being seasonal produce, its main export focus is on yams. Director Richard McNair explained that for the most part, yams are in production all year round, and this is an important factor if the company is to consistently meet its market demand.
SUBSTANTIAL MARKET
The market is a substantial one as Jamaica is the second largest exporter of yam to the United States, accounting for approximately US$11 million annually in 2004.
The yams that are bought and packaged for export include yellow yam, white yam, sweet yam, lucea and renta yam. Mr. McNair says, "Our people know the quality that we buy, so there is very little rejection of the produce when they get to us for sorting."
In fact the packaging process is a critical element of McNair's preparation for the export market. Mr. McNair explained that they pay particular attention to washing, grading and packaging of all products. "Our yams, for example, are washed with water, and then the highest quality yams are chosen from the lot. Certain sizes are selected and those that may be bruised are not packaged. They are then carefully placed in boxes, sawdust placed on it to keep the yams a bit fresher, and to avoid bruising. All packaging is then weighed as a final step in the packaging process."
TURNAROUND TIME
The packaged yams are transported in 40-foot shipping containers. The turnaround time for all produce to reach their respective markets must be kept to a minimum, usually within five to seven days.
Fruits, such as mangoes and pears, are put in cells with 15-20 compartments, and these go by air freight, because they are more perishable.
The company accesses its export markets via wholesalers and distributors with Miami and New York being its chief export markets to date. McNair also supplies the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, and makes occasional shipments to Montreal.
The McNair director explained that the end consumers of the company's products are primarily persons who have migrated from Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, and their descendants.
"We would really love to see our yam being introduced into the mainstream such as large supermarket chains in the United States. Right now most of our yam goes into small retail stores like the Jamaican shops, so it's really Jamaicans who purchase the produce. We would love to see the Americans interested in the produce because most of them don't even really know yams," Mr. McNair added.
However, in the meantime, the management of McNair Limited is focussing on maintaining consistent service and provision of quality excellent produce to its wholesale customers. In recent years it is an undertaking that has brought with it some challenges including the growing competition. "Over the last five years, it has been very competitive in Jamaica, because a lot of companies are doing it, plus the markets abroad are very limited. Weather conditions have also affected our capacity to export large quantities. So growth hasn't really been spectacular. We have two or three really good customers and we are just trying to service them as best we can. I don't really see the prospects of any real growth in the yam industry at the moment," said the director.
Richard McNair also pointed to a sore point of discontent among packaging and export businesses, and an issue that has been plaguing the general agriculture sector. "One of the problems with yam production in Jamaica is that not many persons are going into the farming of yam. The younger people now are not really interested in farming, because it's the older people that are carrying on with cultivation of farm produce. Less and less yam is actually planted and this, of course affects, the supply."
Contributed by the Jamaica
Exporters' Association
Taken from the Financial Gleaner
