Mattress manufacturers co-opt Samuda in fight against imports

Sabrina Gordon, Business Reporter

Karl Samuda is backing efforts of the local bedding sector whose members are lobbying for mattress imports brought in by hoteliers to be stripped of duty-free status, so that Jamaica-made products don't have to compete as aggressively for market share.

The size of imports is said to represent substantial business, but the compilation of data for a more precise estimate was incomplete at press time.

"Hotels buy mattresses duty free but now we are self-sufficient in the manufacturing of mattresses to world standard so there is no need to give incentives," said Samuda, the minister of industry and commerce.

"We don't want a situation where we can produce locally then still have to be importing. We are encouraging the support of the local manufacturers," he said.

Manufacturers of mattresses in the local market are advocating for a level playing field. They are calling for the removal of concessions now granted to operators in the hospitality sector to import mattresses duty free.

The concession is granted under the Hotels Incentives Act, which rewards hoteliers for upgrading their properties or investing in new rooms through waivers of customs duty and general consumption tax.

Samuda said he has already written to Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett putting forward the proposal for the removal of mattresses from the list of items imported duty free.

Bartlett told the Financial Gleaner that he was not immediately able to provide a comment on the matter. He is currently overseas.

In the meantime, chairman of McIntosh Bedding Company, Donald McIntosh, who says his company controls 30 per cent of the market, is adamant that the local market can supply the hospitality industry with the quality and quantity of mattresses needed. McIntosh's company manufactures Sealy products locally.

"Sealy is one of the most aggressive competitors in the market and we have secured the best technology; so, in my mind, there is no problem that what is required by the hospitality industry, the local market cannot produce," said McIntosh.

"The local industry can supply any Sleep System that any hotel wishes to satisfy the most discriminating tastes, but if the hotels choose to exercise personal choice and ignore locally produced products that are globally competitive, then they must be obliged to pay the common external tariff."

The Financial Gleaner was unable to ascertain immediately just how much more hotels would have to spend on bedding if they were denied the duty concessions, or how much market share imports represent.

Along with McIntosh Bedding Company, other players in the market include Jamaica Bedding Company, Boss Furniture and Island Dreams Bedding and Furniture.

The Sealy plant occupies an 80,000-square foot space, producing some 35,000 pieces of bed per month using a one-shift operation.

But as part of its long-term plan, McIntosh expects to increase that level of output by adding another shift, ahead of planned export expansion to Caricom countries that are part of the common market trade arrangement.

Already, the company has won a bid for and has secured the order to supply bedding to the Southampton Princess hotel in Bermuda.

Details of the contract were not disclosed.

Since May, McIntosh Bedding/ Sealy Jamaica has also opened a 15,000-square foot store in Montego Bay.