feb-2018c

36 Caribbeanmarkets started to develop their ownman- ufacturing bases,and evolving trade agreements in the CARICOM region began to stimulate the growth of a more globalized formof commerce,coupledwith the removal of localized,preferential trade accords.Those dynamicsmade it increasinglyapparent that Barbados SteelWorks was going to have to scale back its export manufacturing activities as it becamemore difficult to competewith local manufacturers in its target markets, as well as having to compete against larger andmore sophisticatedmanufacturers operating out of Europe and the Far East that benefitted fromeconomies of scale. So,Barbados SteelWorks shifted its focus.“We moved away fromprimarilymanufacturing and distrib- uting products directly to large scale distributors and more into trading activities,”Gafoor explains.“We tried to staywith our core of manufacturing,but realistical- ly,the commitment to address our customers’varied needsmeant that we have had to embrace the trading end of our market.So,the end customer becamemore of our day-to-dayuser as opposed to amiddleman.” However,that shift in the company’s businessmodel, while it did relieve it fromhaving to competewith lower-pricedmanufacturers,did not prevent it from having to competewith others in the trading sector. BARBADOS STEEL WORKS LIMITED