Trinidad manufacturers consider ways to invest in Guyana’s wood industry

Trinidadian manufacturers are open to relocating to Guyana to establish partnerships and enhance the wood industry here, President of the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacture’s Association (TTMA) Roger Roach has said.

He recently explained that companies are finding ways to bypass exportation issues by moving to Guyana and setting up businesses.

To further enhance these opportunities, he suggests these companies from the two countries combine efforts with local businesses to create a massive industry for construction and other industries.

“We know that Guyana has a lot of skilled furniture manufacturing especially wood because the largest export market for wood-related products is Guyana.

“Because we have a thriving wood industry and maybe we need to look at how we can enhance the investment in that industry to make it a mass producer,” Roach said.

He added that wood from Guyana is a premier product in Trinidad and rather than importing the wood, questioned why not move businesses to Guyana. In doing so, the expertise from Trinidad can be utilised here.

Businesses will be able to tap into manufacturing wood products rather than only exporting raw material. This paves the way for value-added, an initiative that Businessman Rafeek Khan, who was also present during Roach’s presentation, has been calling for.

Roach further noted that the construction sector here is expanding as many Trinidadian companies relocate to Guyana to respond to the booming infrastructural developments.

“We welcome any initiative to encourage investment in Guyana [and] I notice recently that ABS [Ansa Building Solutions], a member of the Ansa McAl group, launched a company in Guyana and I would assume it is a start off trading and eventually look at the opportunities.

“We have a clay block factory in Trinidad and Tobago but that clay block factory has a lot of excess capacity which they can’t export to Guyana without making an initial investment, so we have to [make an investment here],” Roach said.

Several members of the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA) are in Guyana seeking out collaboration and business opportunities.

The meeting was organised by ActionINVEST Caribbean Inc. and enabled several local and Trinidad businesses the opportunity to meet. During these discussions, both countries have acknowledged several areas where investment opportunities exist.