TABLE 1. Regional trade analysis by crop/food product.

SITC COMMODITY COUNTRY EXPORTS(S) IMPORTS($) ..YEAR
0 Food & Live Antigua .. 318 ... 11,818 1........978
 Animals Barbados 33,380 61,014- 1978
 BVI 40 ..-------.. 3,992 -. 1976
 Dominica 11,951 8,210 --1978
 Jamaica 99,626 197;432- 1980
 Montserrat 103 2,309 -1978
 St Lucia -13,248 22,351 1980
 St Vincent 8,608 7,589 .... 1976
 Trinidad/T 66536 --. 347,786 ..... 1981
 USVI 55,349 1978
$ = Thousands of U.S. Dollars
Source: United Nations Annual Statistical Country Reports, 1981



would have to examine those factors which influence the
marketing structures of island economies. These factors include
the size of the market, physical distribution facilities, legal re-
quirements, financial facilities and resources, government sup-
port, market information base, and external economic forces. The
factors can be looked at as either opportunities, hence providing a
positive influence, or constraints, in which case they would be
providing a negative influence. A clear understanding of the two
categories of influencing factors would provide a framework for
developing strategies for effective marketing of the region's food
and other agricultural produce.

Opportunities for Food Trade in the Eastern Caribbean
 There are some substantial opportunities in the Eastern Carib-
 bean region for promoting food trade. These opportunities in-
 clude the existence of markets for food in the islands, a good
 endowment of natural resources, a comparatively inexpensive
 labor force, government support, as well as belonging to a com-
 mon market.

 Food Markets for the Eastern Caribbean
 An examination of the basic market structures of the Eastern
 Caribbean islands shows that indeed there is substantial demand
 for food and other crop products both within the islands and in
 external economies.


 Intra-Island Markets. By and large, domestic production of
 food in the majority of islands has not matched local consump-
 tion. Consequently, most islands end up buying more food from
 outside their respective economies than they sell to the neighbor-
 ing and other world markets.
 According to the United Nations Annual Statistical Country
 Reports, 1981 (Table 1), Antigua spent $11,818,000 buying food
 and live animals from outside her economy while selling
 $318,000 of the same to external markets in 1978. In the same
 year, Barbados spent nearly twice as much ($61,014,000) import-
 ing food and live animals, as she earned from her exports,
 ($33,380,000). Although no figures were available for the U.S.
 Virgin Islands' exports of food in 1978, the territory imported
 over $55 million worth of food and live animals, indicating a
 strong existence of an intra-island market whose consumption is
 unmatched by domestic production.
 More recent figures for other Caribbean islands show that the
 situation of lack of sufficient domestic food production to satisfy
 the demand in the intra-island markets still exists. In 1981,
 Trinidad and Tobago imported $347,786,000 worth of food and
 live animals while exporting $66,536,000. Even Jamaica, with her
 substantial local food production, still has a domestic food
 market whose demand is far from being met by local production.
 As shown in Table 1, Jamaica imported food and live animals to
 the tune of nearly $200 million in 1980, while exporting about
 half as much. The story is almost the same for St. Lucia, who had
 to spend more than $22 million to buy food and live animals


 TABLE 2. Regional trade analysis by crop/food product.

 SITC COMMODITY COUNTRY EXPORTS(S) IMPORTS(S) YEAR
 04 Cereals and Antigua 76 1,935 1978
 Preparations Barbados 1i277 14,129 ....1978
 BVI -. .. ..... 432 1976
 Dominica ...... 1, 818. -. 1978
 Jamaica- 1.940 115,524- 1980
 Montserrat ........ .413 . 1978
 St Lucia 298 4 663 1980
 St Vincent -. ,------- 2675 -1976
 Trinidad/T .....- 92,087 1981
 USVI ............... 6;100 .. 1978
 $ = Thousands of U.S. Dollars
 Source: United Nations Annual Statistical Country Reports, 1981



 from outside for her intra-island market while selling just about
 $13 million of her local food and animal produce to external
markets.

Inter-Island Markets. An examination of specific export and
import food commodities of the islands sheds light on the current
and potential strengths of inter-island markets. As demonstrated
in the discussion of intra-island markets, domestic food produc-
tion is surpassed by domestic consumption in a majority of the
islands. Therefore, this would indicate that, for those islands
which have a surplus of food production, there could be markets
in the neighboring islands. For instance, Table 1 shows that while
Dominica was enjoying a four million dollar trade surplus in food
and live animals, many islands had to import millions of dollars
of food in the same year (Antigua, $11 + m.; Barbados, $61m.;
U.S. Virgin Islands, $55m.).
 Consequently, to develop marketing strategies which can effec-
tively exploit the opportunity presented by the inter-island
markets, one would have to examine the specific nature of the
market demand. Factors to consider include compatibility of
commodities with the demonstrated demand and supply on an
island-by-island basis.
 An analysis of major food commodities demanded by islands of
the Eastern Caribbean shows that the bulk of domestic demand
not met by local production falls in the category of "cereals and
preparations," at least in dollar terms (Table 2). Jamaica, for in-
stance, spent $115,524,000 in 1980 importing cereals and pro-
cessed cereal food products, while St. Lucia spent $4,663,000 the
same year. The following year saw Trinidad and Tobago use up
$92 million importing similar food items.
 Meat and its processed products appears to be the second
largest category of food commodities individual island economies
of the Eastern Caribbean can not produce locally in sufficient
quantitities to meet domestic market demand (Table 3). The
U.S. Virgin Islands spent over $15 million importing meat in
1978; an amount nearly equalled by Barbados. Two years later St.
Lucia was spending some $5 million and Jamaica nearly $21
million importing meat. More recent figures show Trinidad and
Tobago using up about $47 million in 1981 to import meat for
her domestic market.

 TABLE 3. Regional trade analysis by crop/food product.


 SITC COMMODITY- COUNTRY EXPORTS($) IMPORTS(S) YEAR
 01 Meat and Antigua ___ 38 2_.773 978
 Preparations Barbados 1. 100 -. .... 14,672 ...- 1978
 BVI .-- .- 1,083 1976
 Dominica *- .1.,....... .. 1 ; 790 1.. .978
 Jamaica -.--.. ...- -- -. 20;873 --- -. 1980
 Montserrat 618 1978
 St Lucia .... .. ..... .... 5,084 1980
 St Vincent -936 1976
 Trinidad/T ... .. 46,771 1981
 USVI .15.. .. .. .... ... 15; 478 1978
 $ = Thousands of U.S. Dollars
 Source: United Nations Annual Statistical Country Reports, 1981


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