Business View Caribbean | October 2019

49 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN OCTOBER 2019 “We have a main compound that houses the flour mill, feed mill, and rice warehouse,” Haslam explains. “Across the road, we have the compound that houses East Caribbean Bottlers Inc., our newest acquisition.” These facilities provide the anchor to which much of the hive of industrial activity and employment at the Campden Park industrial zone is tied. One such facility is the East Caribbean Flour Mills (ECFM), which began operations in 1977 and was the first of the ECGC’s subsidiaries to open its doors. At the time, flour production was allocated to St. Vincent and the Grenadines under the Caribbean Common Market agreement. The Treaty of Chaguaramas, specifically article 56 (now article 164 of the Revised Treaty), provided protection for the sale of the St. Vincent flour in the OECS. This strategy was intended to resolve a number of issues that the small developing island economies were facing in competing with the More Developed Countries (MDC’s) of the region and the international market. Consequently, the THE EAST CAR I BBEAN GROUP OF COMPANI ES Marketing Manager, Rachel Haslam