Jamaican exporters seen as not ready for the big league

Jamaica's export sector lacks capacity to produce in consistent volumes and quality as global markets demand.

The production gap is deep enough that Industry Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says as many as 327 different initiatives are under consideration to put Jamaican firms in a position to compete more effectively for business in overseas markets.

He said the Ministry of Industry Investment and Commerce would identify the more critical needs and target its assistance where it is determined to be most effective, including capacity building at the level of individual firms.

Tufton, who was speaking Tuesday at a National Export Strategy general assembly meeting, said the issue of scale and poor market intelligence were two of the primary weaknesses in the export sector.

"The issue of capacity is so important. We are known as a country of samples; great with one or two items, but when it comes to a trailer load or a container load, we fall short," the minister said.

"That issue of capacity captures a number of critical steps which need to be taken and it's linked to several ministries, several agencies and also the exporters themselves."

Tufton said a number of the 327 competitiveness initiatives were already being addressed - some in an ad hoc fashion. He did not elaborate.

Ensuring consistency in volume and value, he said, requires effort and coordination.

Charged for being late

"Consistency in timeliness of delivery is fundamental to placing yourself in many market places, both at the level of the firm and the industry. In essence, you are charged for being late or for being inconsistent. You are penalised; your competitiveness is compromised," said the minister, who was assigned the industry and commerce portfolio four months ago in July.

"It is better for you to say you can supply six items in one week and do it consistently, than to say you can do a 100 and can't deliver."

Tufton signalled that his ministry was trying to tie together an inter-agency tracking system that would monitor quality and standards along the supply chain, as well as product output from plants.

"What we hope to address here is to work with the critical agencies - whether it is the MOAF with RADA extension officers in the field to give guidance on the consistency of quality as it relates to the agro-processing side of things, or it is the Bureau of Standards that has to ensure that the quality is maintained."

One such initiative, he said, was the current drive to ensure that food exporters are qualified to HACCP standards, as well as the accreditation of labs to test food products.

"We have to come to terms with the fact, as exporters, as processors, as entrepreneurs, that standards cannot be benchmarked against local knowledge .... You are not good because you are a leader in your market place; you are good when you are a leader in a global market place. You are competitive when you can say I can do it just like anybody else, and if you can't, maybe you need to be in another line of business."

Another critical need, Tufton said, is market intelligence.

"It represents the first point at which you develop capacity - you have to know who you are targeting or trying to supply. Too often, as exporters, we have a generic interpretation of who we are supplying; we speak generally of the diaspora which is a sophisticated and fairly large group," he said.

"We would like exporters to focus on how the market behaves, how it is structured and how our major selling points can be appreciated towards giving us preference within that market place. That, for us, would be a significant experience in moving the process forward."

Tufton said the 327 initiatives are all seen as important, but that some of the programmes underway are being executed in an ad hoc fashion, limiting their effectiveness.

"One of the first things, very clear from my perspective, is that more coordination was required to concentrate the effort and to ensure that one initiative was connected to the other, and that the exporters themselves would see the results of the change and take advantage of it," said Tufton.

"What is being done today is to try to capture these initiatives under critical headings and drive the process that we think can result in a more competitive programme, or set of programmes."

business@gleanerjm.com