The objectives of the mission were

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1 Report on Investment and Trade mission to Birmingham and London, United Kingdom - July 31 - August 9, 2012 & August 10-12, 2012 respectively. Presented by Hon. Roger Clarke Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Monday, August 20, 2012 at Jamaica House The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries participated in two investment and trade promotion initiatives organised by JAMPRO and the Jamaica Tourist Board as part of the Jamaica s 50 th year of independence and its anticipated showing at the Olympics. The objectives of the mission were 1. To introduce a range of Jamaican agricultural produce to the British markets herbs, spices, sauces, roots and tubers, beverage concentrates and extracts, teas, cocoa, coffee and fresh produce 2. To obtain a better understanding of the British market and consumer preferences in respect to prices, packaging, regulatory requirements and distribution 3. To engage discussions with buyers/distributors with a view to having them carry a line of local agricultural produce and products 4. To present specific investment opportunities in the agricultural sector, particularly coffee, cocoa and spices In furtherance of these objectives and in order to capitalise on business opportunities, the Ministry partnered with a number of local food processors such as Virginia Dare, Tops Tea Company, Salada Foods, Twickenham Industries, 1

2 Island Spice, and Jamrow Trading to promote a portfolio of consumer oriented authentic Jamaican food products. Birmingham Dubbed Jamaica in the Square, this event was organised by the Birmingham City Council in collaboration with the Jamaican National Building Society, JNBS, and targeted a diverse group of traders, importers, retailers and consumers. Over the period July 31 to August 9 th, an estimated 30, 000 consumers visited the event and were exposed to Jamaican products and services, cuisine, art, music and culture. In addition, to direct sales to consumers, a number of new brands and products were introduced to the market and significant intelligence gathered on such dimensions as taste and preference, packaging, regulatory requirements, labelling, pricing and distribution. Importantly, this event afforded our team the opportunity to determine the wholesale and retail prices at which these products can be competitively positioned in the UK markets, and this now puts us in a position to make informed product decisions to ensure successful exporting. At the Jamaica in the Square, the team advanced discussions with two prominent UK importers to distribute products produced by Rada s Twickenham Industries including bammies, confectionaries and cake mixes. Some of these products have already been purchased and tested by potential distributors. 2

3 UK importers have also been engaged to distribute retail; institutional and bulk package the Jamaican spices, particularly curry powder and a range of dried mixed spices, sauces, and single spices such as nutmegs and pimento. From our observations, there is significant unmet demand for Jamaican herbs and spices, and the Ministry of Agriculture and fisheries will work with local farmers and producers to meet the demand in this market. In this regard, our ginger and turmeric expansion programme will serve this cause well. Growth in Jamaica s export of these spices will displace existing unauthentic brands that have filled the void in the UK market, as our spices are distinctly superior in quality and flavour. In addition to marshalling increased exports of these spices, the ministry will initiate discussions with Jamaica Intellectual Property Office, JIPO, towards including protection of intellectual property and geographic indicators. Cordials, syrups and teas were some of the new products that were tested in the market. These responses to these products were encouraging and the Ministry is pursuing distribution arrangements which will be furthered between the private sector interests. London In London, the Ministry of Agriculture participated in a series of investment and trade seminars organised by JAMPRO to facilitate increased exports of Jamaican produce to the British market and to attract investments in our agricultural sector. Through the efforts of JAMPRO, the Ministry had the opportunity to interface with the leadership of the fresh produce consortium. This consortium is a group of importers of fresh produce into the British market from around the world including Jamaica. Through discussions with this 3

4 consortium, we were able to confirm that there is a substantial demand for Jamaican fresh produce, such as pumpkins, yams, pineapples, dasheens, sweet potato and mangoes. However, quality standards, prices, and to a lesser extent sanitary/phytosanitary regulations make Jamaican fresh produce less competitive. The Ministry is now very well connected within the membership of the fresh produce consortium and will collaborate with our exporters to overcome specific product challenges to leverage this association in order to increase the exports of Jamaican fresh produce to the UK. The Ministry will shortly commission a task force to address product specific opportunities and constraints. Some of these are; Sweet potato and yellow yam There is significant demand for these products in the UK and we will continue dialogue through the FPC to establish partnerships between UK importers and Jamaican exporters to capitalize on the immediate opportunities. Pumpkin In the UK market, Jamaica s Bodles globe pumpkin has lost grounds to the less perishable crown prince variety. Immediately, we will commence evaluating both varieties at the Ministry s research station and, in the interim, we will strengthen the post-harvest handling system for Bodles globe pumpkin to improve its post-harvest handling qualities. Dasheen - Jamaican dasheen has lost market share to other Caribbean islands due to inadequate post-harvest systems. Again, the Ministry will immediately dedicate its resources to develop and implement a pre-harvest and post-harvest handling system for Jamaican dasheen. 4

5 Sweet yams and Negro yams While demand is large, the Jamaican products have been out competed. It requires adopting new technologies such as mini-set propagation and mechanized cultivation to improve product quality and productivity. We are already evaluating these systems at the Ministry s research stations. Mangoes - The ministry will implement an integrated pest management programme to overcome fruit fly infestation, which has restricted exports of Jamaican mangoes to the UK despite an existing attractive market. Cocoa - Discussions were held with Charbonnelet Walker Limited, a chocolatier, one of whose clients is Her Majesty the Queen. This company expressed significant interest in increasing its supply of Jamaican fine flavoured chocolate, by investing in production and value added activities in Jamaica s cocoa industry. In this regard, they presented a proposal to purchase a Jamaican cocoa farm of acres, rehabilitate the said farm in order to secure their own supplies. The Ministry has already identified a cocoa farm in St. Mary and had initial discussions with the owners, with a view to this investor investing in the rehabilitation of that farm. Over the medium term, this company further wishes to establish a fermentary on the farm or outsource their fermenting process to the Cocoa Industry Board. In the longer term, their intent is processed chocolate here in Jamaica for their markets in Europe. This expression of interest is very timely, as the Ministry has just commenced the process of divesting the commercial assets of the Cocoa Industry Board. We also met with an entity called Black River, 5

6 producer of Jamaican single original luxury chocolate. This company sources Jamaican fine flavoured cocoa from the CIB, makes single origin luxury chocolate and distributes it to several European countries. This company is interested in securing a dedicated supply of Jamaican cocoa, given our limited supply and our dedicated contracts with long standing chocolatiers in Europe. Black River also expressed significant interest in participating in the divestment exercise and more importantly, to work with Jamaican farmers to increase their production, so as to secure their supplies. Conclusion The entire exercise revealed that there is a very strong demand for Jamaican agricultural produce and agro-processed products. Over time, we have lost market share to other emerging sources, which are falsely marketing their products as Jamaican. All relevant agencies of government must make a concerted effort to work with our exporters to overcome these challenges. We have a far better appreciation of how to price our products, we acknowledge the weaknesses in our packaging and the need to strengthen our phytosanitary regulations and surveillance. We believe we have identified credible distributors in the UK who are willing to partners with our producers/exporters to increase our exports to the uk, provided we can deal with the issue of pricing. The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries will take responsibility to work with our exporters, to link them to the identified distributors and to address specific issues relating to phytosanitary matters. We believe that very strong opportunities exist for our spices and cocoa without much effort. On the fresh produce side, we will address in a collaborative way the existing challenges, specifically, within a short 6

7 time, we expect increased exports in bammies, pan cake syrups, cake mixes, pimento, ginger, curry powder, nutmeg and other spices and sauces. We expect investments in our cocoa industry in short order which will lead to an expansion in the medium term. Of course all of this will translate into increased agricultural production and employment. 7