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Despite a challenging 2024 in which it registered a loss of $108 million and a weak first quarter, JFP Limited is upbeat about a return to profitability going forward.
Tariffs placed by the United States government on imports from China could actually help JFP and other manufacturing companies in Jamaica, CEO Metry Seaga said at the company’s annual general meeting on Wednesday.
The company has taken a new approach in its efforts to break into the United States market, and expects better outcomes.
“It’s very difficult to break into the (US) market, and that is why we have changed our model a bit to go with a company that already has relationships there,” he said. That company “is manufacturing in China currently and wants to move that manufacturing base to here (Jamaica). So rather than us building relationships with the customer (in the US), we are having our partner build that relationship with the customer,” Seaga said.
He said that because the US has placed tariffs of 55 per cent or more on goods from China, it makes sense for companies to move operations to Jamaica, where the tariff is 10 per cent.
JFP manufactures furniture for the commercial sector mostly in Jamaica and the Caribbean. Its clients include KFC, Starbucks, Norman Manley International Airport and several outsourcing companies.
The change in approach comes amid efforts by JFP to turn its fortunes around.
Net profit for the March quarter was just $475,000, an 88 per cent decline, compared to $3.8 million in the previous year. Revenue declined by 30 per cent to $112 million.
“While the company faced a reduction in revenue, significant improvements in cost controls and efficiency helped to preserve profitability. Investments in infrastructure and technology reflect management’s forward-looking approach, while active steps to reduce debt and manage expenses signal a strong focus on financial stability,” JFP said in its first-quarter report.
Those controls partly contributed to a 46 per cent reduction in JFP’s quarterly cost of sales.
After the meeting, Seaga told the Financial Gleaner that business in the first half of 2025 was robust, compared to last year. He said the company was building its sales team “to make sure that we get to every business that’s being started in Jamaica” while also looking at Caribbean markets, including Curacao, Panama and the Dominican Republic.
Meanwhile, at the meeting on Wednesday, JFP Chairman Lisa Bell expressed concern about increased competition were Chinese manufacturers to set up shop in Jamaica.
“When a manufacturing company, regardless of whether it is ours or any others, goes out to bid for a contract, whether it be on a construction project, in tourism industry or in the educational sector, we are going head to head with a company that is operating miles away and that has the capacity to produce at prices we cannot compete at yet,” said Bell, who once headed the EXIM Bank Jamaica, a lender to businesses.
“There are Chinese companies popping up all over the length and breadth of Jamaica who are producing products who have storefronts in Kingston, who are offering that they can manufacture the products in China and bring them here three months later, and install them for much cheaper,” she said.
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