JAMAICA'S COFFEE industry has been stymied due to the lack of a sustained presence in the marketplace to buoy the already exceptional reputation of Blue Mountain coffee, if for no other reason, against eventualities. This worldwide revered product has languished in the international market, overworking its natural attributes in a stand-alone way which has now left it to be warding off competition from other coffees lurking in the wings. The question has been asked from whence will come a promotional budget with strong diaspora overtones to keep Blue Mountain and Brand Jamaica in the face of the most discriminating global market. Mavis Bank coffee has started to take serious initiatives in this respect and now boasts a whopping $37m profit in three months or longer. What is unfortunate is that this has happened at a time when the Jamaica Coffee Growers' Association (JCGA) is being called upon to answer for allegations of 56,000kg of coffee, transferred from
He has failed to heal a rift with fiscal conservatives who lost confidence in him when he was in Washington. Nor has he reassured GOP leaders that he can temper his hard-line positions on social issues that repel moderate and independent voters.