Jamaica’s Exports Up a Whopping 39 Percent

Jamaican exports have reported a 39 percent growth for the period between January and May 2006, with earnings moving from approximately $641 million to $827 million, that according to Andre Gordon, President of the Jamaica Exporters Association (JEA).

Giving a breakdown of the sector’s performance, Gordon said that food export “has recovered nicely and is up. Beverage export, which is a major growing segment of the food business, has increased significantly at over 39 percent”.

He indicated further that crude materials, which include bauxite, alumina and other exports, have also increased. “Fuel and minerals have shown the most dramatic increase of all areas, and this is largely due to the efforts of Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica and their ethanol subsidiary”.

Mr. Gordon added that the creditable export performance since the start of the year was in keeping with double-digit growth in the sector over the last several years.

He noted that “total traditional exports have been increasing for the last four years but last year, we saw a reduction in the rate of increase because of the challenges that we had”. He said however, that there has been “significant recovery in traditional exports, many of which are agricultural in nature,” while “we continue to see rapid growth in non traditional areas”.

In the meantime, Gordon announced that the JEA would be employing strategies to sustain the growth in exports. “This includes making sure we build sustainable competitiveness into our products and services,” he stated.