Stakeholders gathered last week to review Saint Lucia’s National Export Strategy as the country pushes to strengthen exports, expand value-added manufacturing, and improve access to international markets for local businesses.
The discussions also focused on new export requirements affecting sectors such as sea moss production, while outlining plans for the development of an incubator-style facility aimed at helping small producers meet international certification standards.
Chief Executive Officer of Export Saint Lucia, Sunita Daniel on the sidelines of the conference, said the country must move away from exporting raw materials without benefiting from the value-added opportunities created overseas.
“How do we ensure that we stop sending our raw product overseas? And then overseas, the product is then transformed into a final product,” Daniel stated. “So how do we ensure that we transform our product here into the final product ourselves?” she asked.
Using sea moss as an example, Daniel pointed to the growing range of products that Saint Lucia could manufacture locally instead of importing finished goods from abroad.
“So for example, looking at Seamoss, how do we change that into Seamoss shampoos, Seamoss body scrubs? Why will we be purchasing that from somebody else and we’re the ones who’s producing the raw material?” she said.
Daniel noted that while many small businesses are already producing agricultural-based goods, one of the major challenges remains meeting the standards required to enter foreign markets.
“We have a lot of small businesses who currently produce a lot of things from agriculture but they’re not able to access the international markets,” she explained.
To address that issue, Export Saint Lucia is exploring the development of a specialized facility where producers can access certified equipment and production resources.
“And a facility, a factory that would actually be developed where these small producers can go in and you pay for certain days possibly, you pay for two days and you get all the equipment, you get all the resources at HACCP certification standards,” Daniel stated.
She explained that such a facility could significantly expand opportunities for Saint Lucian businesses seeking to export products abroad.
“These things are able to open our market significantly for us,” she added.
“So it’s actually something Minister Hilaire announced in the budget and it’s something that we will be working on in terms of getting funding to ensure that that happens,” she said.
The Export Saint Lucia CEO stressed that maintaining international standards is becoming increasingly important, particularly for exporters targeting markets such as the United States, Canada and Europe.
“That is to ensure that the product that we’re sending to the United States, to Canada, to Europe, they’re all at a certain standard and level,” she explained. “Particularly for the United States, you now require a certificate of admissibility,” Daniel noted.
Officials say the National Export Strategy is intended to help diversify Saint Lucia’s economy by strengthening local production, encouraging innovation and improving the competitiveness of Saint Lucian goods within regional and international markets.