UK MARKET SHARE WANTED

Trinidad and Tobago, faced with a diminished share of the United Kingdom import market and the end of preferential entry of its sugar, stepped up the fight for a bigger market share this week with a trade and investment forum in London led by the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission. The twin thrust of the forum was designed to encourage and facilitate enhanced trade with the UK as well as bring to the attention of British businessmen the opportunities for investment existing in this country. The need to step up exports to the United Kingdom, and by extension the European Union (EU) comes hard on the imminent loss of Trinidad and Tobago’s annual quota of some 46,000 tonnes of raw sugar to the UK under the Convention of Lome.

The uncompetitive price of Trinidad and Tobago produced sugar which is much higher than that of the world price has made it distinctly unlikely that it would be able to gain a foothold in the United Kingdom under open market conditions. Should the increased Trinidad and Tobago-United Kingdom trade initiative of the High Commission be realised, then in addition to anticipated exports from UK investments, revenue gained from Corporation and Personal Income Taxes, Customs duties and Value Added Tax should more than compensate down the road for the loss of the Lome quota. The long-term programme by the TT High Commission calls for the arranging of an annual business event which will build on the foundation of this year’s. 

The timing of the trade and business forum is excellent.  It has come at a time when the United Kingdom appears to be at variance with the European Union on crucial issues, for example British resistance to the introduction of the euro to gradually replace the UK pound sterling and the United States over  UK invasion of Iraq. The differences may lead to the targetting of  the Commonwealth as a prime market for trade expansion. The Trinidad and Tobago High Commission initiative deserves succeed in increasing this country’s trading links with the United Kingdom.  However, a joint Caricom initiative should be forged. The importance of increased Caricom exports to the United Kingdom cannot be underestimated, both to the region as a whole and to Trinidad and Tobago in particular. 

Caricom which is this country’s second largest export market after the United States, in September saw several of its member states, including Grenada, Jamaica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, St Lucia and Haiti, severely affected by Hurricane Ivan.  The need for them to rebuild, although it should be seen as being achieved in the medium term, is important not only for them but for this country as well. Meanwhile, a critical ingredient for an expansion of Trinidad and Tobago exports, whether to Caricom or to the United Kingdom, among others, will be our ability to become increasingly competitive in the international market place. This is crucial to the success of the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission in the United Kingdom initiative.  For with the onrush of globalisation, cheaply produced goods from China, India, Mexico and the Far East will challenge TT products even in our own backyard, unless we pay closer attention to all of the components that go into pricing.