This Special Bulletin of the Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN), illustrates export performance of Grenada as at 2008.

1. EXPORT BULLETIN
Special Bulletin of the Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN)
ISSUE # 4 February 2010 |1
Trade Overview CONTENTS
Trade Overview P.1
In 2008, the Grenadian economy spent US$263mn more in merchandise imports
Exports Overview P.2
(i.e. goods) than merchandise exporters earned. The Grenadian economy
continues to face serious growth challenges including an international
merchandise trade deficit that has more than doubled from US$101mn in 2001.
The problem of the ballooning trade deficit is compounded by the fact that even
with revenue from the services sector, the economy still spends more on imports
than it generates from export sales. This ultimately has significant implications on
international debt, and provides a strong motive for the promotion of viable
exports. This bulletin attempts to provide information on some of those viable
export opportunities.
Fig. 1: Grenada’s merchandise trade performance
GRENADA
Official Name: Grenada
Area: 344 sq. km. (133 sq. mi.)
Capital: St. George’s (pop. 33, 734)
Population (2005 UN estimate)
110, 000
Currency: Eastern Caribbean Dollar
($EC)
Terrain: Three volcanic islands
(Grenada and the smaller islands of
Carricou and Petit Martiniqué)
Source: tradeMAP database, retrieved January 20, 2010 Climate: Tropical
Airport: Pointe Salines
International Airport
Source: OTN Information Unit 2010
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2. |2
Between 2001 and 2008, merchandise export sales contracted by 7.9% annually to decline from US$64mn to US$36mn.
Simultaneously, merchandise import expenditure grew faster than the exports sales. Between 2001 and 2008,
merchandise import expenditure grew by almost 9% annually, hence, the merchandise trade deficit expanded significantly
(see figure 1 above). In 2007, Grenadian services exporters generated US$147mn in sales, whilst the Grenadian market
absorbed US$108mn in import spending, therefore generating a marginal intangibles (services) trade surplus. The services
surplus however, was not adequate to address the circa US$260mn merchandise trade deficit which implies that there is
still the need to promote greater exports of goods and services.
Export Overview
Grenada’s exports are not adequately diversified both in terms of the products, services1 exported, and the markets which
are serviced. Barbados’ top export market in 2008 was the United States of America (USA). The USA accounted for over
one‐fifth the total merchandise export earnings in 2008. In 2008, other top export markets included the United Kingdom
(21%); France (11.9%); Dominica (9.8%); Barbados (5.2%); the Netherlands (4.6%); Germany (4.1%); St. Vincent and the
Grenadines (2.3%); Canada (2.3%) and Austria (1.9%).
The most dynamic markets for exports from Barbados between 2001 and 2008 included Indonesia (73% growth per
annum); Thailand (71%); Slovakia (68.4%); the United Kingdom (34.9%); the Bahamas (26.9%); Guyana (25.4%); Sudan
(25.3%); Austria (23.6%); France (14.2%) and Dominica (9.2%). These markets could be amongst those for any priority
market penetration activities based on the strength of the growth trend. Although, these dynamic export markets are a
major source of export earnings, as they jointly accounted for 49.6% of the total earnings in 2008, the remaining markets
registered such large declines, they offset these penetration in these markets. For example, declines were registered
between 2001 and 2008 in major markets such as the USA (15% decline annually), the Netherlands (16% decline annually)
and Germany (22% decline).
The top exports are detailed below.
Table. 1: Grenada’s Top 15 Exports
1
Grenada’s services export earnings are concentrated in travel services (i.e. tourism). In 2007, Grenada earned over 75% of the total services export earnings
from travel services. Other dominant services exports included communication services; other business, professional and technical services; and other direct
insurance services.
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3. |3
In 2008, Barbados’ top 15 products generated over 82% of total export earnings. Therefore, these products are major
export poles. The top 15 exports are composed mainly of manufactured products, some maritime re‐exports, with
nutmeg, tuna and cocoa the main agricultural export featuring in this category. It is interesting to note that even though
Grenada’s nutmeg sales have been contracting, global nutmeg sales have growth by 7% between 2004 and 2008,
showing global demand for the product.
Between 2004 and 2008, the most dynamic exports included chocolate and food preparations containing cocoa (154%
growth in sales per annum); antibiotics,nes in dosage (98%); waste and scrap, copper or copper alloy (88%); cardamoms
(77%); animal feed preparations (65%); wheat or meslin flour (54%); waste and scrap of aluminium (46%); carboys,
bottles, flasks, jars, pots, phials and other containers of plastics (46%); fresh yellowfin tuna (28%) and knitted cotton t‐
shirts (15%). These exports have potential for diversifying the export base.
Grenada exported a number of products in which they were ranked in the top twenty exporting nations in 2008. Based
on their top 10 export share, these products should be a priority of any export development programme and include
nutmeg (7th); mace (14th); fresh yellowfin tuna (17th); cardamoms (19th); sailboats, with or without auxiliary motor (27th)
and fresh or chilled bigeye tunas “Thunnus obesus” (28th).
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