Rainforest to retail local and imported fish, farm produce in Calliaqua 

Rainforest Seafood, the Jamaica-based company that the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines granted a 15-year tax break among other concessions in 2022, will now retail local and imported fish, and agricultural produce at its plant in Calliaqua.

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Saboto Caesar confirmed this to Parliament on Monday as he responded to a question from opposition lawmakers, West Kingstown MP, Daniel Cummings.

Caesar, however, said Rainforest’s retail outlet would complement rather than compete with the Calliaqua Fish Market, which is located just hundreds of yards away, as well as local businesspeople who retail agricultural produce nearby.

In July 2022, Rainforest opened its 25,000-square-foot seafood processing facility, “Big Blue”, in Calliaqua, saying that the “state-of-the-art plant” was equipped to process various species to the highest global standards. 

The company said they had invested EC$10 million in the plant, which featured a quarter million pounds of cold storage, blast freezers, best-in-class cold chain, along with cutting-edge equipment that would allow at-source retail packaging and would ensure the product presentation appeals to various international markets and customers.

Cummings noted that Rainforest was granted duty-free concessions to establish the plant for fish and shellfish. 

He pointed out that the Physical Planning Department recently permitted Rainforest to construct a retail outlet on its compound at Calliaqua. 

“In fact, construction has already started on the building,” Cummings told Parliament. 

He asked Caesar what exactly Rainforest would be offering for sale from this outlet and whether they would be directly competing with the Calliaqua fish market a few hundred yards away. 

“If in the affirmative, what protection is the ministry offering to local fisherfolk who depend on fishing for their livelihoods, and who can be put out of business by potentially unfair competition?” Cummings asked.

He further asked Caesar whether Rainforest would be required to separate the proposed retail outlet from the original processing plant so that the duty-free concessions are not extended to the new entity, or whether the company had been granted additional duty-free concessions to accommodate the proposed outlet.

Caesar told Parliament that locally, Rainforest would be sourcing snapper, mahi-mahi, tuna, lobster and conch.

“And hundreds of local fishers will be able to benefit from marketing their fish at this facility, which is a retail facility,” Caesar said.

“So, the facility that is being constructed will be selling those items … The facility will also be selling imported fish,” Caesar said, adding that the company will have to pay duties on imported fish.

“And it’s only if the fish cannot be sourced locally will they be permitted to import the fish,” he said.

“So, it is anticipated whenever they are importing fish from any source market, that quite naturally, they have to come to the Ministry of Agriculture to get the import permit, and we will have a conversation there with them as it pertains to the sourcing and ensuring that we give the first right to the local fishers.”

Caesar said that the retail section of Rainforest will also have “a dry section, as they call it, where they’ll be having a farmer’s market, and they will be making available local produce. 

“And 100 farmers are expected to benefit. Things like okra, Tanya, Eddowes, sea moss, carrots, yams and soup packs.

“So that, if you want to do a little a one-pot, as we call it sometimes, you go there, you could buy a fish, but you could also purchase your okra and some other ingredients that you want to place in the pot.”

He said a similar question could be asked about the impact on people who are already selling vegetables 100 metres away in front of shops in Calliaqua.

Regarding whether Rainforest retail outlet will compete with fish sales at the Calliaqua Fish Market, Caesar said, 

“… it will be complementing the Calliaqua Fish Market. And whatever competition there is, it’s negligible. 

“Fish landed in Calliaqua now has a bigger market, or will have a bigger market on the completion of this facility. The fisher folks can now sell fish at the market in Calliaqua, and they could also sell their fish to Rainforest that will retail the fish.”

He said some people will choose to buy fish fresh off the boat at Calliaqua, adding that a lot of the fish that Rainforest will sell would be “stored fish”.

“There is the issue that was raised, of unfair competition. As I said earlier, the local fisher folk will not be impacted in any negative way,” Caesar told Parliament. 

The minister said the duty that had been granted to Rainforest will not extend to the retail store.

 “I want for the member to be aware that an application was not even made for any concession, for the retail part of it, and it was indicated to rainforest that they cannot just grandfather — and I’m not saying that they wanted to do this, but that was made clear — the concessions that were granted for the establishment of the original facility, the processing plant.”

He said that just because Rainforest has not applied means that they cannot apply

“And if an application comes in for the provision of duty-free concessions, of course, it will definitely have to be on different terms than the concessions which were granted for the large processing plant that was $6 million or so, and this one is expected to be just $1 million.”

Caesar said the government would grant concessions to any Vincentian wishing to establish a retail facility for fishing of a similar nature. 

“We are giving concessions almost every week at the Cabinet for boat owners, for the operators, who are now doing the rehabilitative work in Owia, we gave concessions in Canouan, in Bequia, in Union Island,” Caesar said. 

He said Rainforest employs 120 people during peak operations and will hire five more to work at the retail outlet.

“And in the aggregate, you are going to have approximately 250 producers, between farmers and fishers, benefiting,” he said and attempted to place the concession granted to the company within the context of the CARICOM Treaty.

However, Cummings asked about the practical separation of the fish bought for retail and for export, in light of the concessions on exports.

Caesar spoke about Rainforest offering services to other fish exported and absorbing the 10% tariff that the United States has imposed on imports from St. Vincent and the Grenadines but did not specifically answer the question about separating the fish for export and retail locally.