Caribbean Export OUTLOOK 2016 - 2017

Pulse OF THE CARIBBEAN

Despite our rich heritage and the demand for Caribbean culture, arts and crafts, this sector only registered US$482 million in exports in 2013. The regional exports of creative goods grew an average of 5%between 2009 and 2013 (marginally higher than the global average 4%) with music, specifically performing rights as the main service exported. However, more than 90% of royalties for Caribbean artistes remain uncollected because the region does not have the infrastructure and monitoring mechanisms in place to enforce payment, resulting in a loss of export revenue. Wood furniture has become the largest low-tech sector globally, surpassing other sectors such as garments and clothing, andwas estimated to have reached a global market size of US$117 billion in 2012. There is demand in the EU, Latin and North American markets and intra-regionally for wooden furniture. Between 2001 and 2008, the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM’s) furniture export sales grewby 4% annually, albeit much slower than the global rate. Globally, the US is, by far, the single largest furniture importing country and in 2011, it imported furniture valued at US$12.4 billion.

This is followed by the EU, in particular Germany (US$5.9 billion), France (US$4.5 billion) and the United Kingdom (UK) (US$3.5 billion) within that market. These three European countries combined present a market opportunity of more than US$11 billion for the wood furniture sector. Tourism In the tourism sector, CARIFORUM exports grew by 2.3% in 2013 with 25 million stay over visitors and US$28 billion in total receipts. This represents an increase of 5% for stay over visitors over 2012. Overall, when compared to other regions globally, the performance in the Caribbean is below the global average of 5%. In 2013, Africa and Europe both posted growth of 5%, while the Americas experienced 3% growth. While North America and Europe remain key sourcemarkets for tourists, tourismarrivals from SouthAmerica grewby 13% in 2013 to 1.5million visitors, representing the market with the largest growth. Member countries should use this data to adjust their strategies to attract more visitors from thesemarkets and hence build amore sustainable and diverse tourism product.

In order to keep this sector alive, the region cannot continue to sell tourism the way it did 30 years ago. There is a need to adapt and seek out non- traditional markets such as China for visitors and to develop niche sub-sectors within our tourism industry. This is especially important when we recognise that services exports continue to be the largest contributor to foreign exchange earnings and economic growth in the region. Diversification In order to strengthen our economies and become more resilient, wemust not simply look to improve ourperformanceinthesekeysectorsoutlinedabove, but wemust also diversify into other sectors which hold promise for growth. Renewable energy is a great example of a potential growth sector for the region. The World Bank, in its report on building competitive green industries, has identified opportunities for developing countries, including SMEs in onshore wind, solar photovoltaic, and small hydro-electricity generation. Electric vehicles and bikes also present opportunities for SMEs. According to the report, global investments in clean technologies including renewable energy

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