WITH COVID-19 affecting several businesses in this country, Eniath’s Printing Company Ltd (EPCL) has shown its agility by diversifying into the food packaging market.

Family owned and operated, EPCL has over three decades of experience and is a leading supplier of printing and publishing equipment to the English-speaking Caribbean. The company currently serves publishers in different segments including education, business and religion.

Last Wednesday, Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon visited the printing and manufacturing facilities at eTecK’s Frederick Settlement Business Park, where she met Shahnaz Mohammed, Managing Director; Isa Mohammed director and sales manager, and Naim Khan general manager.

During the media tour, Gopee-Scoon praised the company’s diversification efforts and vision.

“Diversification is not only the responsibility of government, but it is the responsibility of companies to diversify their products so that they can make the transition and adapt to a changing economy.”

Eniath’s Printing Company Limited has traditionally focused on publishing textbooks for the educational publishing industry.

But the company has recently grown and successfully diversified into packaging and folding cartons to serve local and regional markets.

Gopee-Scoon said she was impressed that the packaging company was able to secure franchises from major food companies to package and label their products.

“It is commendable that the company is entering the regional market with its packaging products. An investment like this will translate into increased potential for capacity building in the domestic manufacturing sector and also engender supply chain links with various industries, especially those in the food and beverage sector, ”he said. said Gopee-Scoon.

The executives also told the minister that the company was able to achieve the BRCGS Global Standard for Food Safety, which is an international food safety certification that allows manufacturers to export food packaging to any party. of the world.

Gopee-Scoon then asked other manufacturers to become certified to increase their exports by accessing BRCGS certification through a subsidy mechanism under the Export Booster Initiative run by exportTT Limited.

Sales Manager Isa Mohammed explained that the company’s initial entry into the packaging market was successful for both local production and exports to the region and that it intends continue to invest in capital and human resources to meet market demands.

Challenges

Mohammed expressed some of the challenges faced in importing raw materials internationally, mainly from Brazil and Europe, for their printing and packaging businesses.

“Due to the disruption of supply chains internationally, what we’ve seen over the past year and a half is that shipping prices have skyrocketed and now it’s costing us more. expensive to ship paper than the actual product. It is a serious development because it represents for us a doubling of the cost of raw materials and it is something that the company would have no choice but to pass on to the customer.

Mohammed said that another problem encountered is the lack of capacity of the paper mills to meet the needs of their customers.

“A lot of these companies in Brazil, Europe and the Far East, due to the problem of demand, make it easier to produce for their home markets and don’t make it easy to export, so it creates a problem for us and when we get a supply, the price is heavy to pay in shipping. Even though we have diversified into packaging and realized growth opportunities, there is this raw material factor that is not able to easily access, ”Mohammed.

He added that to help ease the burden, EPCL has expanded its supply chains and is working with companies they haven’t worked with before.

“We try to source internationally for any factory company that is available and willing to export. There is a potential opportunity to work with a company in New Zealand, a country we had never considered before, ”he said.