Roti, pholouri mix already in Canada, US
On the eve of the commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of its operations, the National Milling Company is seeking to break new ground by moving to secure markets for its flour and flour-based products in overseas markets.
In an exclusive interview with Stabroek Business earlier this week NAMILCO Chief Executive Officer Bert Sukhai disclosed that the company has turned its attention to what it considers to be a potentially lucrative Brazilian market.
“We have visited Bon Fim. Boa Vista and Manaus where we have had meetings with the Chamber of Commerce, the bakers and the wholesalers and we believe that as far as price is concerned we can compete. We are currently working with the Ministry of Trade to try to get flour placed on the Partial Scope Agreement so that we can have the commodity enter Brazil free of duty,” Sukhai said.
Actualization of flour sales to Brazil however, will have to await the completion of the all- weather road between Guyana and Brazil but according to Sukhai the company has already commenced plans to secure a share of the Brazilian market by putting its product in packages with Portuguese labelling.
Meanwhile, Sukhai told Stabroek Business that as part of the company’s preparations for a possible breakthrough on the Brazilian market an application has been dispatched to government for the acquisition of land at Lethem for the construction of a warehouse and a bakery in order to accelerate cross-border trade. He said that NAMILCO has already made an assessment of the targeted Brazilian market and that the company would be “more than pleased’ if it could secure “even twenty per cent of that market.”
Sukhai said that he anticipated that NAMILCO would have to increase its production to satisfy any new market adding that he was confident that the company had the capacity to do so.
Meanwhile, as NAMILCO prepares to commence celebration of its fortieth anniversary Sukhai told Stabroek Business that the company was seeking to build on its modest start in expanding the market in the diaspora for its Pholouri Mix. He said that the company had already secured a distributor in Canada and one in New York for this product and that it was now available on the shelves of one of the major supermarkets in Canada. “Given the high standards that Guyanese products must meet in order to be placed on the shelves of a supermarket in Canada, we are considering this to be a significant marketing breakthrough for NAMILCO,” Sukhai said.
Meanwhile, Sukhai told Stabroek Business that the company was already in a celebratory mood following its acquisition earlier this month of the ISO 9001 (2008) standards certification. He said that conferral of the internationally recognized standards certification had been preceded by more than a year of hard work in collaboration with overseas standards experts “to fill the gap between where we were and where we needed to go.” He said that conferral of the quality management system meant, in effect, that the company was “following strict guidelines to maintain a consistently high quality product. He said that the certification had been awarded for a limited period of time. In the case of NAMILCO the certification has been awarded for three years during which annual inspections are conducted and at the end of which a new audit is done to ensure compliance with the required standards. The company is due for its first audit early next year.