Baron Foods CEO shares EPA experience

One regional businessman who has managed to make CARICOM work for his company, moving on to establish a globally recognised brand which is poised to gain more under the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), is urging Caribbean businesses to take advantage of the benefits offered them under this new agreement.

In fact, Chris Persaud, CEO and Managing Director of Baron Foods, an export-oriented manufacturing company with locations in St. Lucia, Grenada and soon to be Trinidad & Tobago, says that our access to the European market was there long before the implementation of the EPA.

Speaking recently at a Regional Media Workshop on the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement at The Grenadian by Rex Resorts, he testified that the EPA provided tremendous
benefits to the Caribbean, but that this was nothing new.

“The markets were always open there for business. What the EPA has brought is the [several] developmental aspects,” he stated.

Persaud remarked that the EPA provided manufacturers with additional opportunities to expand their operations, adding that whereas Baron Food products were being exported to Europe for over 10 years, under the EPA, they could now look into setting up a factory in England.

“This allows us to compete on a local scale because the markets are open [now] to both our skilled force and our capital and equipment. [In a sense, Europe is saying to us] come and invest,” he opined.

For service traders, particularly those without a presence, Persaud added that those without an established presence in the market could benefit from “social capital”, that is, tapping into the expertise of European companies through joint ventures in order to penetrate the market whilst at the same time developing themselves.

He did however highlight several hurdles.

Said the Guyanese-born CEO, “What remains an issue in the EPA implementation is that we are still struggling with regional integration. CSME is not where we want it to be. There is free movement of skills once you are qualified... However, if we can’t achieve the outcomes of our own regional integration, then the global opportunities provided by the EPA will be more difficult to realise.”

“We are still in the era of protecting our own. If [this continues] there is going to be no liberalisation of trade. [Can you imagine that] within the region we are still querying the certificates of origin? I have seen that in a case where we were making a product, made in Grenada, the tariff codes have been elevated but yet it’s the port of origin that’s questioning the export potential of that product. It’s not the destination at all times. So we still have some technical barriers to trade to battle on our own,” he said.
Persaud also cited enormous Caribbean outbound transportation costs as a major imbalance to trade. He remarked that whereas he could get a 5 lb spare part shipped from Germany for US$100, it would cost him in excess of US$200 to ship a 1 lb sample of his product to that territory.

He also encouraged regional manufacturers to not take a blind approach to exporting to the various countries within EU.

“You can’t expect to penetrate France if your labels are not in French,” he asserted, adding that the French market was extremely competitive and therefore concerned about the price.

Due to the “love affair” already existing between the Caribbean and the UK, Persaud noted that this region had an exotic element which aptly poised its products for that market. He stated however that one could not disregard the need to comply with standards and regulation.

Lastly, in sharing his experience with the German market, Persaud said that the Germans were keen on the story behind the product: “The innate relationship between your products and the primary sector, [they want to know] what relationship you have with your farmers... Once there is a passionate story behind your products, market access and entry is not an issue.” (RA)