The Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) has urged Trinidadian manufacturers to look into the vast opportunities in the local forestry sector – an invitation which the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturing Association (TTMA) has said it would be exploring.
The TTMA is currently fielding a 44-member trade mission in Guyana to explore areas where they can potentially strengthen trade and cooperation among businesses of the two nations.
During a seminar on Wednesday, hosted by ActionINVEST Caribbean Inc. (ACI) at Parc Rayne, Executive Member of the GMSA, Rafeek Khan, noted that Trinidadian investors are the ones most confident in Guyana’s growing economy, and there is much more scope for collaboration in new areas, such as the forestry sector.
Currently, one per cent of Guyana’s vast forest cover has been allocated to logging activities. But according to Khan, who has a timber company, only one-third of that allocation is currently being harvested.
TTMA President Roger Roach
“So, we have tremendous room for anyone who seeks to invest in logging, sawmilling, or manufacturing of our wood products. Coming from Trinidad, you will know that our previous hard wood such as Greenheart and Purpleheart, the price of they are in Trinidad. You are the consumers of wood products that are very expensive in Trinidad,” he noted.
Khan, who is currently undertaking Guyana’s first eco-lodges, also highlighted that the products used in constructing these eco-homes can be used for the eco-tourism industry in Tobago.
Khan’s company, DuraVilla Homes, is building a total of 30 lodges at Great Diamond on the East Bank of Demerara to be run by women under the ‘100 women’ initiative announced by President Dr Irfaan Ali.
Initially scheduled to be completed in time for the Cricket Carnival season, to provide alternative luxury accommodation options for the influx of visitors in the country during this period, the ambitious eco-lodges project faced several setbacks, and the deadline date for completion was pushed back.
Meanwhile, another one of the niche areas that the GMSA official said potential T&T investors can look at is kiln-dried products.
Some members of the trade mission from Trinidad and Tobago at Wednesday’s seminar
“You have some amazing companies in Trinidad that make doors, that make flooring, that make cabinets – all using wood. Perhaps you’re importing them from Miami, I don’t know. But you cannot utilize any of our wood products for interior construction if you don’t dry it, and this is the biggest gap we’re finding in Guyana. We do not have enough kiln-drying capacity,” he stressed.
The kiln process involves the drying of wood in a chamber where air circulation, relative humidity and temperature can be controlled so that the moisture content of wood can be reduced to a target point without having any drying defects. These kiln-dried products are then used to make furniture.
Khan, who is the immediate past GMSA President, explained that Guyana currently imports about 90 per cent of its “basic furniture” for major initiatives such as hospitals and hotels, and even homes as well.
“At least 5,000 homes are built every year [in Guyana], which should give you the confidence that if you want to manufacture a product – whether it is something as simple as furniture, flooring, doors – it doesn’t matter. It’s a no-brainer because we are importing major of the high-end finished products for our hotels, for our hospitals, and for our luxury homes,” he stated.
The GMSA Executive outlined that, given the price of these imported furniture, it would be more feasible if they are to be manufactured right here in Guyana. He noted that Trinidad has the expertise and capacity to undertaken such a venture.
In response, TTMA President Roger Roach said Guyana’s wood is indeed a premium product in Trinidad, and so the association would explore making the Guyanese wood more accessible and affordable to citizens in the twin-island Republic.
“We do have manufacturers of doors and other wood-related products in Trinidad, [but] Guyanese wood in Trinidad is a premium product. In fact, people boast when they have Guyanese hardwood product in their house… It’s an expensive product,” he posited.
Roach went on to say, “We don’t have a feel, or I certainly don’t have a feel, for the cost of the actual product, so we don’t know if the cost of the product is high, or because of the reputation of the product, the persons who are importing it are making very large mark-ups on it… But TTMA will certainly look into that, to see if instead of having a few niche persons to bring it in, we can price it reasonably and packaged it properly and then we could get a wider distribution in Trinidad and Tobago.”
The TTMA further highlighted the need for the two countries to partner in the area of wood-related paint products, especially given Guyana’s vast skilled manufacturing capacity.
Meanwhile, with the construction boom in Guyana, the GMSA official told the T&T trade mission that there are plenty of investment opportunities they can tap into. These including claybrick manufacturing in Guyana, especially for the housing sector, as well as quarrying.
According to Khan, there are many dormant quarries in Guyana sitting there – waiting for investors. (G8)
