Caribbean trade chief paints grim outlook for region’s food exports

CORAL SPRING, Trelawny — Caribbean Export Development Agency Chief Executive Officer Damine Sinanan has warned that Caribbean countries will have to pay more to feed their populations for the rest of the year as rising energy and shipping costs, tighter export regulations, and disruptions to global trade threaten to deepen the region’s dependence on imported food.

“We’re going to face more challenges in the year 2026,” Sinanan said, pointing to disruptions in international shipping and escalating commodity prices. “Ship traffic has collapsed from 160 ships to six ships per day.

That’s going to impact our value chains,” he added. Sinanan was addressing delegates last Friday, ahead of the plenary session ‘Practical Building Blocks for Export Expansion’, on the final day of Caribbean Week of Agriculture 2026 at Ocean Coral Spring Hotel in Trelawny.