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Business View Caribbean
Barbados Dairy Industries Limited
The island’s only dairy processor looks ahead to its second half-century
Barbados, in the eastern Caribbean, is an island na-
tion within the British Commonwealth that achieved its
independence in 1966. A relatively small island with a
population of approximately 282,000, 90 percent of
whom are of Afro-Caribbean descent, the economy of
Barbados was based almost entirely on sugar cultiva-
tion and related activities up until the end of the co-
lonial period. Since the late 1970s and early 1980s,
however, many former sugar plantations have been
turned into industrial sites, as the country began diver-
sifying its economy into manufacturing and tourism.
Also founded in 1966, as a joint project between New
Zealand Dairies and the Government of Barbados, was
Barbados Dairy Industries Limited, which, today, does
business under the name of Pinehill Dairies (PHD).
Built on the site of former sugar plantation, Pinehill is
Barbados’ only dairy processing plant. In its earliest
days, its first suppliers were local, family farms from in
and around the city of Bridgetown. Twice daily, about
3000 liters of milk was transported to the company
for processing in trucks, animal-drawn carts, and even
by hand. Most of the neighboring farming operations
