The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is celebrating its Fortieth Anniversary as a regional integration grouping this year. July 4th 1973 consolidated the Integration Movement with the establishment of the Common Market predicated upon economic integration, functional cooperation and foreign policy coordination. A critical element of the objectives of the community is the expansion of trade intra-regionally and with third states. Changes in the global environment that have occurred during the past forty years would have had some measure of impact on the performance of the integration movement including trade performance. This presentation serves to examine that performance. (Website - www.caricomstats.org)

2. 2
Inter-American Development Bank
(IDB)
CARICOM
 PROGRAM TO ENHANCE DISSEMINATION OF TRADE DATA IN
CARICOM: STRENGTHENING OF TRADSYS – 2006-2009
 The general objective of the project was to improve
the timeliness and accessibility of trade data in
CARICOM.
 Major Outputs
 Assessment of Trade Information System in Member States
 Development of Data Submission Protocol;
 Pilot implementation of the Protocol in Suriname
 Development of an Online Facility to access Regional Trade
Information System –TradSys Online

3. 3
TradSys OnlineCARICOM
 It can be accessed at www.caricomstats.org;
 Online application which allows users to obtain
Trade Information via the Internet;
 Users can access data through two tiers:
 Tier 1 is accessible to all users,
 Tier 2 provides privileged users with more detailed
information – not yet accessible.

4. 4
TradSys Online cont’dCARICOM

5. 5
European Union funded ProjectsCARICOM
 9th European Development Fund
 Major Outputs
 Updating of Assessment of Trade Information
Systems in MS;
 Implementation of the New Eurotrace Software;
 Enabled the implementation of the Data
Submission Protocol module by countries
automatically;
 Training workshops in the use of the Software –
conducted in collaboration with Eurostat;
 Incorporation of the editing modules to improve
the quality of trade data.

6. 6
European Union funded Projects
cont’d
CARICOM
 Implementation of the Trade Indices Module
(TIM)/training workshop to enable the
production of trade price and volume indices;
 Implementation of Web Comext Module
/training workshop to facilitate the
dissemination of trade data;

7. 7
European Union funded Projects
cont’d
CARICOM
TENTH EDF:
 Upgrade TradSys Online with COMEXT;
 Reinforce TIM and COMEXT in countries;
 Treat with challenges in the use the New
Eurotrace relative to changes in Customs
Systems.

8. 8
CARICOM
PERFORMANCE OF TRADE: 1973-
2011

9. 9
CARICOM
Overview
 Introduction
 CARICOM’s Total Trade
 CARICOM’s Intra-regional Trade
 CARICOM’s trade with third countries
 Brief conclusions

10. 10
Introduction
CARICOM
 4th July 1973 – Establishment of the Caribbean
Community
 Expansion of trade both intra-regionally and extra-regionally
 Changes in the global environment over the period
would have impacted trade
 Removal of preferential arrangements for sugar and banana
 OPEC – oil prices hikes, mid and late 70’s
 Debt crisis of the mid 80s
 Global financial and economic crisis of 2008
 Establishment of the CSME in 2006

11. 11
CARICOM’s Total Trade -
Exports
CARICOM
1973-2011
 CARICOM’S total exports expanded at an average
annual growth rate of 8.0%;
 It moved from US$1.0 in 1973 to US$18.8 bn in
2011;
 The mid 1980s period (debt crisis) saw a slump in
exports;
 The period, 2008-2009 saw a huge decline in
exports due to the global financial and economic
crisis reflected a negative growth rate of 46.1
percent.

12. 12
CARICOM’s Total Trade -
Imports
CARICOM
1973-2011
 The average annual growth rate for the period
was 7.7 percent;
 A similar dip in imports occurred in the mid
1980s;
 For 2008-2009 there was also a huge
decrease in imports of 25.9%;
 Overall, the Region’s trade was in deficit over
the period and averaged US$2.2 billion.

13. 13
Distribution of Total Exports
CARICOM
 The USA was most significant market for
CARICOM’s exports accounting on average for
44.2 percent of the Region’s exports for 1973
to 2011;
 The Intra-regional Market was the second
accounting on average for 17.2 percent;
 The EU was the third major market accounting
on average for 15.1 percent of total exports.

14. 14
Total Trade –CSM Period
CARICOM
2006-2011
 Total exports while increasing rapidly from
2006 to 2008 suffered set backs and grew at
an average rate of 1.0 percent;
 For 1973-2005, the average growth rate was
8.2 percent;
 Total imports in this period also grew at a
smaller rate than in the period 1973-2005, 7.9
percent compared to 6.2 percent for the CSM
period.

15. 15
CARICOM
-
5
10
15
20
25
30
1973 1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006 2009
US$Billions
CARICOM's Total Imports and Exports: 1973-2011
Imports us$Bn Exports us$Bn

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CARICOM’s Intra-Regional
Trade
CARICOM
1973-2011
 The average annual growth rate in intra-
regional exports for this period was 8.8
percent;
 Intra-regional exports to total exports was 14.8
percent;
 In value terms, Intra-regional exports moved
from US$0.1 Bn. in 1973 to US$2.6 Bn. in
2011, approximately 30 times the value in
1973.

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CARICOM’s Intra-Regional
Trade
CARICOM
1973-1981
 Significant increase occurred in intra-regional
exports expanding at an average annual
growth rate of 22.8 percent;
 The proportion of Intra-regional exports to total
exports averaged 9.0 percent;
 Evidently for the early period of the Community
there was significant growth.

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CARICOM’s Intra-Regional
Trade
CARICOM
1982-2005
 The average annual growth rate for this period
was 6.7 percent;
 The proportion of intra-regional exports to total
exports stood at 15.6 percent;
 While there was a slowing down of the rate of
growth, the proportion of intra-regional exports
to total exports increased as compared to the
earlier period 1973 to 1981.

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CARICOM’s Intra-Regional
Trade
CARICOM
2006-2011
 Period of the Global financial and economic crisis;
 Average annual growth rate was -2.0 percent
reflecting the severity of the crisis;
 However prior to this period, 2002-2008, there was
phenomenal growth – average annual growth rate
of 24.8 percent;
 The proportion of intra-regional exports to total
exports was 15.5 percent, comparable to the 1982
to 2005 period (15.6 percent).

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CARICOM
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009
US$Billions
CARICOM's Intra-Regional Imports and Exports: 1973-2011
Intra-Regional Imports Intra-Regional Exports

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Highlights of Intra-regional
trade
CARICOM
 Trinidad and Tobago was the dominant exporter
accounting for 71.3 percent of total intra-regional
exports for 1973 to 2011and 80.0 percent for 2006-
2011;
 Jamaica was the top importer accounting for 31.2
percent of total intra-regional imports for 1973 to 2011
and 36.6 percent for 2006 to 2011;
 Barbados was the second dominant importer
accounting for 15.5 percent of total intra-regional
imports for 1973 to 2011 and 12.6 percent for 2006 to
2011;
 There was less concentration in the distribution of

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Highlights of Intra-regional trade
cont’d
CARICOM
 Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and related materials
was the top commodity exported in the intra-regional
market accounting on average for 48.8 percent of
intra-regional exports;
 Food was the second highest commodity exported
accounting on average for 15.6 percent of intra-
regional exports for the entire period;
 Manufactured Goods was third with an average of
11.6 percent for the entire period;
 For the CSM period, these three commodities were
also the highest on average and in the same order.

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Extra-regional Exports
CARICOM
 The growth of extra-regional exports was lower for the
CSM period (1.6 percent) compared to 7.9 percent for
the period 1973-2005;
 The USA was the major market accounting on average
for 52.6 percent of extra-regional exports for the entire
period and 55.5 percent from 2006 to2011;
 EU ranked second for the Region’s extra-regional
exports accounting on average for 17.9 percent for the
entire period and 16.5 percent from 2006 to 2011 ;
 In 2011, exports to the EU stood at US$2.7 Bn. And to
the USA US$8.6 Bn

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Extra-regional Imports
CARICOM
1973-2011
 The average annual growth rate of extra-regional
imports was 7.5 percent;
 The USA was the major source of CARICOM’s imports
(40.5 percent);
 The EU was the second major source of imports
(15.1percent);
 The Latin American Integration Association (LAIA)
followed as the third major source of the Region’s
imports (14.4 percent);

25. 25
Major Commodities -Exports
CARICOM
 Mineral fuels, Lubricants and related materials was the top
commodity exported to the extra-regional market accounting on
average for 48.1 percent;
 Crude materials, inedible, except fuels, was the second highest
extra-regional export accounting for 15.1 percent ;
 Chemicals and related products, not elsewhere specified was
next in line accounting on average for 13.7 percent;
 Food exports ranked fourth accounting on average for 9.9 percent of
total extra-regional exports
 Mineral fuels, Lubricants and related materials was the top
commodity exported to the USA;
 Food was the top commodity exported to the EU followed by
mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials

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Major Commodities –Imports
CARICOM
 Machinery and transport equipment was the top
commodity imported from extra-regional sources and on
average accounted for 27.9 percent;
 Mineral fuels, Lubricants and related materials
ranked second on average with 19.6 percent;
 Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material
ranked third and on average was 15.4 percent;
 Food ranked fourth on the list of commodity imported
12.2 percent.

27. 27
Some Critical Commodities
CARICOM
 CARICOM’s imports of Food expanded from US$0.2 Bn. in
1973 to US$1.8 Bn. in 2006 and US$2.8 Bn. in 2011 at an
average annual growth rate of 6.8 percent for the entire
period;
 CARICOM’s exports of Bananas moved from USS$71.0
Mn. in 1985 to US$39.0 Mn. in 2011;
 The Region’s exports of Sugar increased from USS$220.3
Mn. in 1987 to US$ US$351.7 Mn. in 2006 decreasing to
US$273.7 Mn. in 2011;
 Rice exports expanded from USS$13.3 Mn. in 1985 to
US$70.6 Mn. in 2006 and to US$209.5 Mn. in 2011.

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Conclusions
CARICOM
 Generally, Intra-regional trade has been positive with
significant growth in the early period of the integration
movement and with the share of intra-regional to total trade
increasing and remaining fairly stable on average despite
the external shocks;
 Exception to the above was the 2006 to 2011, period of the
global crisis ;
 There was also phenomenal growth in intra-regional trade
in the period 2002 to 2008;
 Trinidad and Tobago was the Region’s dominant exporter;
 Mineral fuels was the top product exported intra-regionally;

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Conclusions cont’d
CARICOM
 Jamaica and Barbados were the top intra-regional
importers;
 For extra-regional trade the Region was in deficit with third
states;
 The Region’s top trading partner was the USA;
 Mineral Fuels, Lubricant and related materials; Inedible
Crude materials; and Chemicals and related products were
the major products exported;
 Overall exports of Sugar and Bananas have declined in
2011 while exports for rice increased;
 Future analysis should focus on trade with the coming into
effect of the EPA

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THANK YOU
CARICOM