T&T’s exports to the European Union almost tripled between 2021 and 2022, the year in which the war in Ukraine drove global prices of LNG, ammonia and fertiliser much higher.
In 2021, T&T’s exports to the EU were almost US$2 billion while in 2022 they were US$5.88 billion, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade.
Speaking at a webinar two weeks ago on doing business with the EU as part of the T&T Coalition Services Industries (TTCSI) Doing Business With the World Series, president of the TTCSI, Mark Edghill pointed out that the EU is T&T’s second largest trade partner and quoted from the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade, which states that the EU exported to T&T some US $1.11 billion during 2022 alone. That figure includes US$617.10 million worth of mineral fuels, oils, and distillation products and US$101.14 million worth of machinery products.
He also said food stuff such as dairy products, eggs, honey, and vegetable, fruit, nut food preparations combined totalled US$50.38 million. Meanwhile, vehicles and electrical and electronic equipment combined came up to US$48.43 Million.
According to the UN COMTRADE database, of T&T’s exports to the European Union of US$5.88 billion, mineral fuels, oils, distillation products alone accounted for US$3.88 billion. Inorganic chemicals, precious metal compounds and isotopes ran a distant second at US$684.23 million and organic chemicals rounding out the top three exports at approximately US$639 Million. Fertilisers were T&T’s fourth largest export at almost US$440 million.
“As you can discern from the data I have shared with you, the energy and manufacturing sectors have dominated the trade between T&T and Europe. We at TTCSI hope to see trade-in-services take their place right up there with those other sectors, as T&T deepens its efforts to diversify its economy further,” said Edghill.
Edghill quoted statistics which show that in its World Economic Outlook database, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) notes that at present, the gross domestic product of the European Union economy is estimated to be US$17.8 trillion and that figure is expected to grow over the next couple of years to US$18.5 trillion in 2024, and even higher in 2025, to roughly US$19.3 trillion.
Also speaking at the webinar, European Union (EU) Ambassador to T&T Peter Cavendish praised this country for being a world class leader in the fields of education, energy and cocoa production and encouraged the country to further develop these to enhance greater trade with the EU.
“T&T has a healthy balance of payments surplus with the EU. This country has many talents and advantages that can be put to the service of both T&T citizens and of Europe.
“In particular, we might look immediately look at the tourism sector which is growing rapidly at an incredible 5.5 per cent to 6.7 per cent.”
Cavendish spoke at a webinar two weeks ago on doing business with the EU as part of the TTCSI Doing Business With the World Series.
He noted that the EU has three partnerships with the Caribbean which are the Partnership for the Green Deal, a Partnership for Economic Resilience/Trade and a Partnership for Governance, Security and Human Development.
He said T&T is important in the field of green energy.
“We should not forget that in terms of fertiliser and ammonia, T&T is already among the most important suppliers of these key products to the European agricultural sector. T&T is the second biggest supplier of ammonia and fertiliser to Europe.”
He added that the energy sector in T&T has generated about 30 per cent of the country’s wealth.
“In fact, this country has enormous potential to be an exporter of green hydrogen. We just recently completed a study on resources in this country and while a further mapping exercise is needed, it is very clear that this country has potential to be a major green hub and a hydrogen hub.”
Summit
Last week, on July 17 and 18, the EU and Community of Latin America and Caribbean (CELAC) held their first Summit in eight years as it was postponed due to the COVID pandemic.
The Summit ended with “wide ranging” agreements which included climate change, reform of the international financial architecture, inclusive sustainable development and issues which have arisen out of history such as slavery and the slave trade.
“We have some actions to do, we have a lot of follow-up. This is really just part of the process of the renewal and this reaffirmation of the friendship and the relationship between Latin America and the Caribbean,” CELAC’s president and St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves said at the end of the summit news conference.
During the news conference, the European Union announced that on the first day of the summit, it launched the Global Gateway Investment Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The EU said it will bring over €45 billion of high-quality European investment to Latin America and the Caribbean and more than 135 projects are already in the pipeline.
World’s best cocoa
Cavendish also said that T&T has the world’s best cocoa and the world’s best Cocoa Research Centre and this is another area that can see increased trade between the two countries.
He also said T&T is the top education hub in the Caribbean region and there is a lot of areas to be explored in the field of education.
“There are many education products as we need to remember that this country is frontline in and cocoa is an early mention. But there are other areas such as shipping where there are many useful products that can be earmarked for third-level post graduate educational studies. Education as an export should not be excluded from this country.
“Education here is of good quality, it is affordable and it is something to be considered in a globalised world that could be an export product.”
