JAMAICAN exporters need to be more aggressive in exploring the world’s fastest growing markets, according to a Caribbean trade expert.

Lincoln Price, principal of business consultancy Profit Drive and a former tecnocrat at the Office of Trade Negotiations of the Caricom Secretariat, has noted that local businesses have largely neglected the world’s fastest growing import markets while focusing on traditional, relatively sluggish areas.

According to International Trade Centre data analysed by Profit Drive, global import spending was US$18.3 trillion last year, representing a six per cent growth rate in import spending between 2008 and 2012. The top import markets were the USA (US$2.3 trillion); China (US$1.8 trillion); Germany (US$1.2 trillion); Japan (US$886 billion); and the UK (US$689 billion).

The US, Canada and UK account for the bulk of Jamaican exports.

But the most dynamic import countries, “hyper growth markets” with in excess of 12 per cent growth, the firm noted, include Zimbabwe (32 per cent); Mongolia (30 per cent); Myanmar (28 per cent); Gibraltar (27 per cent); Iraq (25 per cent); Nepal (23 per cent); Afghanistan (23 per cent); Congo (22 per cent); Ghana (19 per cent); Zambia (19 per cent); Bolivia (17 per cent); Vietnam (17 per cent); Turkmenistan (16 per cent); Bangladesh (16 per cent); China (16 per cent); Malta (16 per cent); and Mozambique (16 per cent).

According to Profit Drive, the main hyper dynamic export markets that Jamaica explored in 2012 were Ghana (US$10.3 million); China (US$11.4 million); Colombia (US$1 million); Peru (US$2 million); Haiti (US$1.7 million); Nigeria (US$1.6 million) and Panama (US$1.5 million). However, those markets still only accounted for one per cent of Jamaica’s export sales last year.

GraceKennedy is one local company that has targeted Africa, in particular Ghana where it has a number of food products, including the popular Tropical Rhythms drinks, while Jamaica Broilers has a big presence in Haiti, where it exports animal feed.

“Jamaica has exported about US$22 million to the markets that have grown by over 12 per cent annually between 2008 and 2012,” Price highlighted, while encouraging “further exploration of hyper growth markets, starting with those that Jamaican-based exporters were already engaged in exporting.”

Andrew Collins, president of Jamaica Exporters Association (JEA), said while product and market diversification remains a priority for the body, the lobby group has employed a more focused approach, starting with BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) markets and extending to Africa.

“The JEA has been preaching the message of product and market diversification for as long as I remember and that message has been sharpened and intensified in recent years,” Collins said.

“The best way to do this is to stay focussed; pick one, two, or three countries and work with that first and then move on with the others,” he noted.

Collins noted that Brazil and China represent the best opportunities immediately. Within the last two weeks, exporters have met with a Chinese delegation on trade and the Jamaican Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, he said.

He noted that exporters will be looking at capitalising on the upcoming World Cup and Olympics in Brazil.

“In the particular case of Brazil, we have come to the conclusion that in terms of culinary similarities, the Northern part of Brazil is probably the best beach head for us. There are Jamaicans operating there, the question is how can we expand there and with what products,” Collins said.

He added that Jamaica’s cultural and already strong — albeit one-sided — business relationship with China presents a solid springboard for penetration in that Asian market.

“A number of ICIs (informal commercial importers) are already going into China and there is a strong enough Chinese community here,” he said.

Collins stressed however that, although there is a need to diversify, there is still a lot of room to grow in traditional territories, outside of Diaspora markets and more into mainstream.

“We have not even began to scratch the surface of these traditional markets,” he said.