Caribbean Export OUTLOOK 2016

the same for Asia and North America, while for

LatinAmericatheregiononlysuppliesthreeoftheir

top 10 demanded products. Some of the products

demanded by thesemarkets, which the Caribbean

currentlyproducesbutisnotcapitalisingon,include

non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages, juices, cocoa

and chocolates, hot sauces, and biscuits.

There are, however, positive movements in the

sector. The regional export of agro-processed

products has grown an average of 6% between

2009 and 2013. The main exports include food

preparations, sugar and confectionery; fruits and

nuts; and beverages and spirits. The key markets

for these goods were NorthAmerica, Europe and

intra-regional. To continue along this growth

path the region must look at ways to capitalise

on the growing demand for goods that we can

supply. Interestingly, the Caribbean is a net food

importer with a food import bill of US$4 billion.

An in-depth analysis would suggest that themost

important market that the Caribbean is failing

to fulfill demand is right here at home. Perhaps

exploring this market ought to be our first order

of business. Following this, we must find ways to

move away from our traditional markets, which

are continuing to shrink andmove towards newer

markets such as Latin America and Africa.

CARIFORUM, for example, produces seven

of the 10 most demanded products in Africa

which is the largest growing market. These items

include tobacco products, alcoholic beverages,

cigars, preserved fruits, food preparations,

prepared fish, and animal feeds. However,

the region is not fully exploiting this market.

CARIFORUM only exported 3.7% of tobacco

and 0.01% of cereals and alcoholic beverages to

Africa in 2013. In fact, CARIFORUM exports to

Africa declined by 24% between 2009 and 2013.

While the Caribbean exports agro-processing

products to the US, there are still unexploited

opportunities. For example, hot pepper sauce is a

more thanUS$1billion annualmarket and globally

the demand for this commodity has grown at a

rate of 9.3% annually over the past decade. This

is another product that is well suited to our agro-

processing sector. However, despite having hot

sauce producers in almost every CARIFORUM

country, the region is not benefitting significantly

fromthe growth in the hot saucemarket in theUS.

Cocoa and chocolate are two other products with

huge opportunities for CARIFORUM to supply

given the significant demandworldwide, especially

in select European markets.

Creative Industries

The Caribbean should also focus its attention on

the global creative and cultural industries which

was estimated to be valued at US$1.8 trillion

in 2010. In a 2010 study of the creative sector

in Europe, 6.8% of GDP (approximately €680

billion) was attributed to the creative industries.

In 2013, exports from the region totaled US$51 billion,

but there was an overall trade deficit of US$11 billion.

Pulse OF THE CARIBBEAN