Winera expands its operations

Adrian Augier doesn’t really care what goes into boxes his company makes but he does care where it happens.

Augier, chairman of the Windward Islands Packaging Co Ltd (WINERA), was in Trinidad recently for the launch of WINERA (Trinidad) Ltd’s office but he also revealed that the company should soon be setting up a production plant here. The new plant and Augier’s views are a big step for a company which was set up in St Lucia in 1971 to provide packaging for the banana industry. The company is a joint venture between the Windward Island Governments and Venezuelan company , Papelera Industrial SA. Augier is adviser to the St Lucia Prime Minister in the Office of the Private Sector. Today, about 50 percent of WINERA’s production is for non-banana products. The company has been supplying packaging to local manufacturers for over 15 years, with its packaging being used for a variety of products, including food and beverage, chemicals, lubricants and household products. “We are into the corrogated box business and what goes into it is incidental,” Augier explained.

By its own account, WINERA controls about 17 percent of the local packaging market and with the new plant, is looking for more. The company’s expansion comes at a time when regional manufacturers are gearing themselves up for the Free Trade Area of the Americas. It also comes as private and public sector are exchanging words about the value of Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME). St Vincent Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves and Caricom Secretary General Edwin Carrington recently stressed that, despite the concerns by the private sector, individual companies are already making regional trade work for them. For Augier, there is no real choice. Regional firms cannot rely on what they consider guaranteed markets. “There’s no such thing as a domestic market anymore guaranteed to domestic producers so the more you can level the production playing field in terms of your cost of production your competitiveness you’re better off,” Augier said. “If a Trinidad company uses Trinidad based advantages to export into the domestic market in St Lucia in an area you might consider as exclusive as a banana box, I think that’s a poignant point.”

Augier said multinational companies usually have different divisions, like production and services in different areas, or even countries. “I think that logic can be applied to the Windward Islands,” he explained, adding that the region should use the strength of the individual islands. “Trinidad is becoming the capital of the region and it is increasingly important as a source of public and private financing,” he said. The infrastructure, although lashed by private sector leaders, exists. “As a matter of fact I think it’s far more ‘do-able’ than people realise,” Augier said. “I think what frightens people is that we are accustomed to doing business in an environment in which we have access to the power structure, especially in the smaller countries but I don’t think it’s any different in Trinidad. You can pick up the phone and speak to the Minister.”

For Winera, Trinidad also offers good labour and power costs, skill workers and a stable exchange rate. The company, though, does have its concerns. “If any of those were to change out of proportion, let’s say, with the others and you get an imbalance on the production cost side then we’re all concerned,” Augier said. “Everybody’s affected. So, we look on the Trinidad economy now which is supposedly entering a phase of accelerated growth and we would be concerned about the pressures this might have on wage rates.” Wage rates aren’t the only attraction but if too many factors in the equation change then, Augier said, the company will have to reconsider. If boxes coming out of Trinidad are not competitive, customers can easily look elsewhere. “The banana farmer in St Lucia by and large does not buy a banana box out of patriotism,” he noted. “He buys it out of a need to keep his post production costs to a minimum.” Winera is not alone. Other companies and countries in the region will have to look at how to survive in a more competitive environment. “The challenge we in St Lucia face to deal with the realities of a shrinking banana market and to diversify the economy as quickly as possible,” Augier explained. “The future of the Windward Islands as far as I’m concerned is the creation of a larger economic space as quickly as possible. The more objective open and transparent the market is the more I think you’ll see the free movement of investment capital.”