No duty on local beef reimported from Guatemala

Claude Mills

THE GOVERNMENT will not be charging any duty on Jamaican beef shipped to Guatemala for processing, and reimported into the island.

Last week, it was reported that McDonald's Jamaica had submitted a proposal to the Jamaican Government through which it will purchase 208,000 pounds of local beef per month to satisfy growing demand from the restaurant chain's web of franchises in Jamaica, Panama and Colombia.

This beef would be shipped to the US-owned plant, Lopez Foods, in Guatemala to be processed, and returned to Jamaica.

"This is a great initiative for Jamaican farmers, and as the McDonald's chain grows here and in the region, so will the demand, and so will the supply," Minister of Agriculture Roger Clarke said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Clarke has also confirmed that a contingent of inspectors from Lopez Foods will be coming to the island within the next two weeks to check out the processing plant at Lydford in St. Ann where Jamaican beef will be first deboned and shipped to Guatemala. A veterinarian team inspected the Lopez Foods facility last week.

"The whole programme should come on stream within the next two months as Lopez Foods is currently doing some refurbishing to deal with the extra workload," Minister Clarke said.

Jamaica can produce as much as 30 million pounds of beef annually, but has never had an export market.

"We sent a container of beef to Trinidad last year but that was nothing to mention really. This move will have a 'guesttimate' dollar value of $80 million, that is 5,000 animals at $20 per pound, at a quantity of 800 pounds (live weight)," the Minister said.

Meanwhile, Henry Rainford, managing director of the Jamaica Livestock Association, welcomed the move as it means 'Jamaica now has a market to export beef' but advocated that a 'processing plant/slaughter house that meets international standards' be established.

"The beef industry will not not get anywhere without that," he added.

Ian Persard of Content Agricultural Products, echoed his sentiments.

"On a live weight basis, Jamaican beef is very competitive, but you have to take into account the economies of scale of the local processors. A plant in the US can process in one day what it takes the majority of our plants to do in one year, plus we have to pay two times the electricity costs, and we have security costs to think about, so we'll see how it works," Persard said.

Minister Clarke dismissed their concerns.

"My only interest is for the farmers to sell at a reasonable price, not trying to find a problem out of a solution," he said.

The deal which will see the world's largest restaurant chain purchasing over 200,000 lbs of local beef monthly, was reportedly engineered by Ewan Gordon, the chain's regional purchasing manager, who is a Jamaican. McDonald's already exports Jamaican chicken to countries as far away as Suriname.

"Lopez Foods supplies beef in South America to McDonald's franchise holders - about 71 restaurants in all - but now they have to meet the demand of 53 more, 12 of which are in Jamaica, so they have the demand but not the supply. Jamaica just needs to step up to the plate and take advantage of this opportunity," Tara Abrahams-Clivio, marketing manager of Three Rivers Management Limited, which holds the McDonald's franchise, said.

The farming community remains optimistic.

"On the face, it could be a positive move, especially to the farming community, but only if they're given a price which will allow them to be profitable, and be able to expand the industry. Additionally, every effort should be made to have the beef processed locally, in order to stop the double shipping costs, first to Guatemala, and then back here," Mr. Persard concluded.

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