Export Saint Lucia assures to diversify the export basket across Caribbean

Castries, Saint Lucia: Export Saint Lucia, the government authority responsible for the export of goods from Saint Lucia, has recently announced that it has been working tirelessly to diversify the export basket and seeking new markets for goods and services from the Caribbean nation.

It outlined that it has been working strategically and assiduously with producers to provide high-standard goods and services to the market.

Export Saint Lucia also clarified that a visible decline in exports of agri-produce was reported after Tropical Storm Bret travelled through the Caribbean Sea. However, it highlighted that the stats of exports have been reached to pre-Covid levels. It is further anticipated that the trend will continue to be the same during most of September and the entire upcoming quarter.

In addition to this, Export Saint Lucia outlined that Saint Lucia bananas witnessed a decline in the UK market, because of which the agency was tasked to find a new place for Saint Lucia’s “green gold”. As per the figures shared by the agency, it was revealed that the region, neighbouring countries of Saint Lucia, can absorb more volume of bananas as compared to the United Kingdom.

The agency identified Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, St Kitts and Nevis, as well as Trinidad and Tobago as ideal locations for the bananas. Export Saint Lucia further outlined that these and other regional markets can also become ideal locations for non-banana agri-produce.

Additionally, it highlighted that sea moss was reportedly the high performer in exports in 2023. It also expects that sea-moss will surpass the 2022 statistics. It also mentioned that the technical and financial assistance by the government of Saint Lucia is behind the success of the sea-moss subsector.

In this regard, Sunita Daniel, CEO of Export Saint Lucia, was quoted saying that the passage of Tropical Storm Bret has caused severe damage to the island, affected because of low supply. She stated that “while this may be the case, the buyers that we have secured and the feedback from the Ministry of Agriculture on production levels augurs well for Saint Lucia and our farmers. The outlook for regional exports of bananas and other produce for the remainder of the year and 2024 is very positive.”