The head of a local manufacturing company has tagged a predisposition for substandard and manufactured products as one of the primary reasons for the low demand for locally produced goods.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Amy’s Pomeroon Foods Inc (APFI) Louis Holder, whose company manufactures Amy’s Pomeroon Coffee (APC) has listed “cultural biases against local products” as a contributory factor to the underperformance of the manufacturing sector. In an article published in this week’s issue of the Stabroek Business, Holder cites his own product as being a victim of bias, alluding to an unnamed “major local supermarket,” which he said had refused to carry Amy’s Pomeroon Coffee because “its price was too high for a local product.” Holder said, “It didn’t matter that the coffee is a premium grade and has been favourably compared to Jamaica’s Blue Mountain brand, which retails for three times APC’s price.”
