Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: The best insight, instant feedback, accountability. The all new talk radio Freedom 106.5.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Joining us on our program here this morning, CNC three business news reporter. Let's welcome to our show. Preacher Christopher, good morning to you. Nice to have you with us.
[00:00:19] Speaker A: Good morning. Good morning, Trinidad and Tobago.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: It's nice to have you. Discussions about business are always relevant. They're important. We have all these things taking place. And businesses, one way or the other, business activity one way or the other, always impacted negatively, positively, and we could go on and on and on. Having you on the program here this morning is about updating our listeners on what are some of the latest issues, trends taking place, what are some of the matters that are engaging members of the business community and so on. So let me allow you to tell us, Peter, about some of the issues that have reared ahead recently when it comes to the business community and some of the things that business people are looking into at this point in time.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: Well, at this point in time, well, yesterday there was a major development in the business community as Cabarea announced, they already officially unveiled their new bottling line, bottle line seven, which has expanded capacity and greater capacity for returnable bottles, which they believe will allow them to expand their, their capacity to allow for international or even other businesses to come to Trinidad and do their bottling lines down in Trinidad.
The prime minister spoke at that unveiling yesterday, the urban cutting ceremony, and he stated that more companies in the manufacturing sector would have to follow Caribbean's lead and open their doors so that they could achieve international expansion where they could get into markets beyond the Caribbean, because he believes that's the only way, given the population of Trinidad and the wider Caribbean, that we could achieve greater growth.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: Some pretty interesting.
Yeah, there have been some pretty interesting developments when it comes to Carib Brewery and Carib the brand, because they've made steps to enter the market in India, which I thought was really interesting.
We know that the market in India, there are billion plus people in India. If you get 10% of our market to buy a beer, you're doing exceptionally well. For any product to go in there, you get 1% of the population. You're talking about a significant number of sales.
I don't know if you've had discussions with them about the decision to go into India and to take Carib there. Have we had any discussions with them about that as to why?
[00:03:06] Speaker A: Yes, I actually attended the anthemical stockbrokers meeting last week where the answer, Macau group CEO Anthony N. Sapien III spoke about that decision.
He informed us that the decision was actually fueled by the love of cricket, the fact that the brand Caribbean was recognized because I assume because of the western east cricket team and west news cricketers being popular in India still.
And he revealed that getting the opportunity to go into India and getting into that large market was very exciting for the group. And it's a partnership that they've been tried and tested. They've done a similar partnership increase and a similar partnership in Canada where they allow for a foreign company to distribute caravan stag in those markets. And they're hoping to do the same thing in India. And they are expecting that with the brand's recognition from cricket, that they will do well in India. So it's really exciting times for the antimacal group and Carib.
[00:04:18] Speaker B: It was discussed briefly on the program and a caller suggested something that rings true. I mean, you have cricketers from the West Indies and from Trinidad and Tobago that have godlike status in India. Brian Lara comes to mind, and you have a couple others from the West Indies team. All you need is them fellas, them to hold a Caribbean on some kind of ad. And as it. India is going to go crazy for what's worth such an endorsement, it's going to be interesting to see how that pans out. Coming back to the new plan that was open, I remember when we had the discussions about the beverage container bill that was under the people's partnership. I remember that the Karaburian and Macale were very much involved in those discussions. I don't know what has happened to that bill, though. I don't know if it was ever brought into law. But I remember the recycling element of that discussion was very much on the front burner.
And just to take us back to the discussion about this new plant, what are some of the objectives and some of the goals with this new plant?
[00:05:28] Speaker A: Well, indeed, greater sustainability was one of the goals. That was highlighted by the group CEO at the launch as well as the other managers. And at the launch, we actually spoke with the public utilities minister, Marvin Gonzalez, who has responsibility for the salt waste management company, as you would know, concerning the container beverage bill and how the plant would fall into that. And he explained that there were some policies that were recently updated that would allow for, you know, greater collection of waste, including e waste and other tires and other things, where he felt that an entire waste collection industry could be developed in Trinidad and Tobago. To the point that we could even see foreign exchange being generated because we would we be so advanced in terms of the waste management collection systems that we have in place.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: Yeah, and that's always an interesting discussion when we look at some of what transpires when it comes to rains and floods and all those kinds of things and dealing with that in one way or the other. I don't know if we necessarily have a culture in this country of recycling or of contributing to recycling. We have these drives ever so often you see the portuguese little bins and schools are encouraged to do their part when it comes to recycling. But as a nation, I'm not too sure that we're on the bandwagon. Let's talk about some of the other issues that are some of the positives and negatives coming out of the business sector. We see the Ministry of Trade making some pronouncements and some of the avenues that they're opening for businesses. Are businesses in the country still grappling with the foreign exchange?
Or shortage might not be the right word, but in challenges in getting foreign exchange?
[00:07:21] Speaker A: Yes, it definitely is still an issue.
I believe recently the owner of Miniso First Retail, who opened Miniso and recently the Levi Jean store in East Gates Mall, he spoke about the challenges that he had in terms of obtaining for foreign exchange. You know, even in attempting to bring these foreign brands into the country, he faced major challenges.
And this has been a recurring issue within the business sector that the foreign exchange concerns continue to be.
So far, a lot of business have been either been trying to work around it or they've had to reduce some of their scope in order to stay afloat.
[00:08:13] Speaker B: I've spoken to some people who have said to me that they've already closed their businesses because they just can't. They can't continue with the haggling of trying to get foreign exchange and it's impacting on their ability to get their goods and resources and everything else. Some people have decided to close up shop and I guess being a business reporter, you would have a gauge one way or the other personally, and probably from statistics, I don't know, central bank and others about the climate in the country when it comes to business.
We continue to hear reports and you see when you go to malls and everything else, that there are a number of businesses that have closed their doors, some of them for good, some of them just taking a little hiatus until they figure out what's going on. How would you describe the business climate in the country?
[00:09:01] Speaker A: I think the retail businesses are going through a very strange period, particularly post with 19.
You're right, a lot of the malls have been seeing less tenants. People who the businesses that tend to stand up for more food and, you know, grab and go locations are not so much the clothing stores and the item stores that you would have seen that generally dominated those. Those places. I know recently there was a report about business being on the up in San Fernando, and within a week of that report coming out, I got calls from businessmen based in San Fernando, and they were saying that they had been shuffling, they didn't know where this report came, that there was growth. And as you rightly said, the money business owner said that he was looking to shut down his San Fernando branch because he was not seeing the kind of foot traffic or the business that he was anticipating when he moved there a couple of years ago.
So there's a. There's a lot of challenges. I think certain brands have a bit like the real estate market, honestly. Certain brands have maintained their market share and are able to still command some level of revenue and business. But I think smaller businesses are really struggling in terms of staying afloat because of the foreign exchange challenge and of course, because of the reduced spending power of the public, because that's. That's a major concern. A lot of people are just looking for what they, they really need, their necessities. And a lot of them believe that they would find a better, a better deal shopping online as opposed to buying from local businesses.
So these are some of the challenges that the modern businessman, or the small business in particular, faces.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: Well, that brings us to another discussion. The online shopping at the administration, the minister of finance imposed, I think it was. Was it a 7% online tax for online shopping? The figures evade me at this point.
[00:11:22] Speaker A: I think that was 2016, 2017 around there.
[00:11:25] Speaker B: So we had that, and that was seen as an attempt. It was. The explanation was whether it's an attempt to stem the flow of foreign exchange because you have to pay with your credit card when you purchase online. And there was the rationale put forward that, well, listen, we need to send the flow of foreign exchange out of the country. Many people complained. Since then, we've had more complaints with persons who tried to purchase online, saying, well, the fees at these companies we have to ship through, they've gone up tremendously. And it makes it nonsensical to order some things, because by the time you get it and how much you pay for it, it's almost the same thing as buying it here, probably even, like, more expensive. Now, the latest development is that persons who are shopping online need to have a BIR number.
And that was an interesting development.
I think it was La Pacano or some other shipping company who put out a notice to its customers saying that, well, in order to clear goods, you need to have a BIR number. What is the business community saying about that?
[00:12:32] Speaker A: Well, I haven't done much research into that, to be honest, but it's a very interesting development. I do know that online shopping has been a concern because they've seen dwindling numbers and they have been attempts to try and sway the public to return to the, the brick and mortar stores. In fact, some local stores have even kind of developed a pseudo online model where they don't have the main brick and mortar store and they do a kind of online delivery service so that you can order via their website and, you know, the convenience would be better for the customer, especially with the crime situation and everything. But that development would be IR number. I believe it's another way where the business community is trying to find a way into that niche market and find, you know, just, just to encourage the wider public to, you know, to return, to buy local, buy from the local store as opposed to the Amazons or the Walmart or sending to skybox and having somebody bring it down for you.
Yeah, but I do not know. There was a joint select committee on cybersecurity last week where they also noted that the increase in online shopping led to increase in credit card law, reports of credit card for fraud.
But the banking association just noted that the stain number, the sheer volume of people shopping online had increased so much.
You know, by extension, that number of reports had to increase. It was still largely minimal compared to the amount of credit card purchases they were seeing for online shopping.
[00:14:24] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a balance. I don't know if it's a balance, but the consumer is the one who benefited. I know we've been having a raging discussion about the impact that online shopping is having on local businesses and everything else, but at the end of the day, consumers are going to look for, I don't want to say a bargain, but value for their money. And sometimes when you look at the markup that local that you find for the very same item locally, it's prohibitive for the persons who have the ability to shop online. These new requirements are probably intended at discouraging or making people fall in line or whatever else it is. But as we end our interview here this morning, what are some of the things coming up or on the horizon that you believe the business community should be paying close attention to?
[00:15:15] Speaker A: Well, when we're looking, last week they announced that, a week before they announced that floor prices came down and that is as a result of certain things within the supply chain international, the international price of grain and other other parts of the development of flour would have reduced and that allowed chic Lisa Nutrimix to announce that they would drop their prices. And I think in general, a lot of the business community would have to look at geopolitical issues which impact certain things that are imported and that would affect the pricing of certain items. Largely, there has not been much of a decrease in actual pricing, even though we've seen reports that inflation is down and the consumer is really feeling the brunt of that in that a large cross section of the society has not seen salary increases for several years and as a result they will continue to bargain, hunt or look for the best value for their dollar. And until there's some kind of parity within between the inflation rate, the prices that we are seeing on the shelves, and the salaries that the wider public are seeing, we're going to see reduced business activity across the sector for some time.
[00:16:44] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely a lot of things that we need to consider. This is where we drop our interview here this morning. Thank you for being with us and giving us your insight and basically an insight into some of the things that are confronting us, some of the things that will confront us. I want to thank you for being with us here this morning and sharing that information with our listeners.
[00:17:05] Speaker A: Absolutely no problem. Thank you for having me. The best insight instant feedback, accountability. The all new talk radio Freedom 106.5.
