With India cutting tariff rates on alcoholic beverages from the European Union and Britain as part of new trade deals, the executive chairman of a major distillery and rum exporting company in the CARICOM region is calling on regional governments to engage the Indian government in negotiations to seek reduction in the tariffs for alcoholic spirits from CARICOM member states which currently stand at around 200 per cent.
Komal Samaroo, chief executive of Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) issued the call Wednesday during a panel discussion at a forum in Guyana on Perspectives on Global Trade: Challenges and Opportunities hosted by the World Trade Centre Georgetown (WTCG). The forum examined strategies for navigating the current global geopolitical and business landscape which has seen a shift away from World Trade Organization (WTO) rules based trade to a “crazy system of rising tariffs, then reductions and then raised tariffs again all within a few weeks based on actions and reactions on the part of major powers, really unpredictable and unprecedented,” according to WTCG executive director Wesley Kirton.
“Our governments have very good relations with India which is slashing tariffs on alcoholic spirits from the European Union and Britain by half to 75 per cent from 150 per cent, which will be lowered to 40 per cent and gradually lowered to 20 per cent. Our governments should be seeking to have tariffs on our spirits lowered. We have some of the best quality rum in the world and with lower tariffs we can be competitive,” Samaroo told the forum in the presence of top officials of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat including Deputy Secretary General Dr. Armstrong Alexis and Assistant Secretary General for the CARICOM Single Market and Trade, Ambassador Wayne Mc Cook.. He urged CARICOM to get this issue on the agenda of its bilateral negotiations with India.
Samaroo, a former chairman of the Barbados based West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers Association (WIRSPA) says Guyana’s El Dorado brand has the potential to competitively enter the Indian spirits market in specific segments of that market.
India is Scotch Whisky’s largest export market by volume, with the equivalent of more than 192 million bottles exported in 2024 according to published statistics which also indicate that the volume of Scotch Whisky exports to India have grown by more than 200 per cent in the past decade. These statistics support Samaroo’s contention that there is huge potential for El Dorado and other Caribbean rums to enter and grow in the Indian market.
