– housing boom a major boost, CEO says
Fibre Tech Industrial Plastics is aiming to assume a position of leadership across the Caribbean in the manufacture of fabricated countertops, the company’s Chief Executive Officer Somat Ali told Stabroek Business in an interview earlier this week.
“We have been able to access new surfacing products on the market and we are now able to manufacture a literally unbreakable countertop,” Ali said.
Ali told Stabroek Business that following a period of setbacks the company is now poised to expand its markets both locally and in the region. “I am optimistic about the year ahead,” Ali said.
Over the past year Fibre Tech has secured contracts with Princess International Hotel and the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry for the creation of kitchens and other fabricated tops and this, Ali said, has made a major difference to the viability of the company. “In terms of innovation and in the manufacture of high-quality products we have also had a good year,” Ali said.
According to Ali, a major achievement of the company has been the inroads it has made in changing taste. “Sixty per cent of our customers are “repeats” or persons who are coming to us based on recommendations, having tried similar imported items and been disappointed with the quality.”
Ali has hit out at what he calls a lack of vigilance on the part of the policing agencies which he says has resulted in the importation into Guyana of “seconds” mainly from the United States, the UK and China. “We need to assume a far more serious anti-dumping position. If goods that are imported into this country are ‘seconds’ they should be advertised as such,” Ali told Stabroek Business.
Ali said Fibre Tech will be seeking this year to go after both the local market— triggered by the housing boom—as well as the regional market. “As far as the regional market is concerned we have already been benefiting from visits by contractors from Barbados and elsewhere who come to Guyana to buy lumber then visit Fibre Tech to buy our products. This year, Ali said, the company will also be seeking to restore its Trinidad and Tobago market which it lost some time ago.
In anticipation of a significant production push this year, Ali said, Fibre Tech will be seeking to significantly improve its self-generation capacity “in order to offset whatever shortfall we face with GPL.” The Fibre Tech CEO also alluded to the possibility of physical expansion to take account of a growing market. “If necessary we may even apply for land for further expansion away from this site,” Ali said.
