JAMAICA BUSINESS NEWS: October 18th – 24th, 2014

ALCOA SHARES DECREASE IN VALUE AFTER SALE OF JAMAICA VENTURE STAKE—10/18/14
Share of Alcoa, the multinational aluminum firm, showed a lower opening price on the New York Stock Exchange after announcing that it plans to sell its interest in a joint venture in Jamaica to the Noble Group Ltd. Noble will pay $140 million for 55 percent of the Jamaica bauxite mining and alumina refining operation held by Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals. The remaining 45 percent of the operations is held by Clarendon Alumina Production Ltd., which is owned by Jamaica’s government.

COMPANY ADDRESSES GARBAGE IN CARIBBEAN—10/20/14
With some help from Recycle It, a St. Lucia company, the “Greening the Caribbean” company is implementing a recycling and waste management initiative that will reach businesses and households in the region. While garbage has a bad reputation, Wayne Neale, who holds the 2014 SEA award for Urban and Regional Development from Greening the Caribbean, believes that it is possible to raise the status of garbage through enhancing awareness of the environmental impact of recycling.

JAM TV OFFERS CONNECTION OPPORTUNITIES TO DIASPORA—10/21/14
JAM TV, which was started with an investment of £400,000 by a British-Jamaican couple, plans to use the business to connect Jamaican operations with the market in the United Kingdom. Lillian Allen and Ricardo Allen began their TV channel in the UK in May 2014, reaching about 13 million viewers. The broadcasting business expects to grow on the take-up of local companies, which can introduce themselves to the UK market directly through the television channel.

OILFIELDS WORKERS’ TRADE UNION REFUSES TO UNLOAD SHIP FROM GHANA—10/23/14
The Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) would not allow its members to unload an oil ship coming to Trinidad and Tobago from West Africa due to concern about the Ebola virus. The union said that Petrotrin, the state-owned oil firm, has not implemented protocols to address the virus, which has killed some 5,000 individuals in West Africa. The nation’s Health Minister, Dr. Fuad Khan, stated that the union had overreacted, however, and the ship had been cleared to dock at the port.