Agricultural Markets and the Caribbean
Latin American countries are global leaders in the production of several crops. These include fruits and meats for which they have competitive advantages arising from a combination of conducive climate, large production scale, high productivity and quality, efficient production costs, a broad labor base, and established export markets. By investing in the production of these commodities in countries and local areas, which have the highest efficiency and resilience amid different market conditions, investors can position themselves to capitalize from said competitive advantage. Furthermore, Latin America still has a sizeable area of underdeveloped land that can be converted into arable fields. Governments, communities, and investors have an opportunity to work together to put these lands into production ensuring the application of sustainability policies, protecting the natural environment, and creating productive jobs and infrastructure in the local areas. How this is done and enforced will have major implications for the environment and the stakeholders.
Agricultural commodities are generally low-priced products. By integrating vertically and processing production locally, it is possible to add more value to the production, to optimize costs, and reduce the carbon footprint along the value chain. This is valid whether the production is bound for domestic or export markets. Although the existing infrastructure varies widely along the region, there are countless opportunities for infrastructure development in order to improve efficiency and reduce costs along the value chain. Latin America not only possesses vast agricultural resources, but also enjoys very favorable demographics and an attractive long-term macroeconomic outlook. This means that the opportunities will not only come from growing exports but also from domestic growth, driven by reduced poverty, and growing middle and upper classes. This should be an important reassurance for foreign investors. The vast agricultural resources in the region and the particular dynamics of regional economies offer multiple investment opportunities.
Agricultural Markets and the Caribbean
The Republic of Haiti is a small country located on the western side of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean, alongside the Dominican Republic. Geographically, a semiarid mountainous interior and a tropical coastal plain dominate Haiti. Currently, the country has a total territory of almost 28.000 square kilometers, which is somewhat smaller than Maryland. Likewise, Haiti has a total population of approximately 10.5 million citizens, about 60% of which live in an urban setting, notably the capital city of Port-au-Prince with some 2.5 million inhabitants. The country’s national annual gross domestic product (GDP) is approximately US$19 billion and it has experienced positive economic growth upwards of 1.0% in recent years. The Haitian economy is divided into 22% agriculture, 20% manufacturing, and 58% services. Similarly, the agricultural industry employs 38% of the national labor force, while manufacturing employs 12% and services employ another 50%. Meanwhile, the agriculture industry only utilizes 66% of the national territory, while another 4% is forested.
During 2015, Haiti exported US$1.15 billion worth of goods and imported US$3 billion, which meant a total trade deficit of US$1.85 billion. That same year, 89% or US$1 billion of Haitian exports consisted of textile products.