C
A
R
I
B
B
E
A
N
C
R
E
A
T
I
V
E
S
Creative Goods
Dr. Keith Nurse & Alicia Nicholls Creative goods are the most readily identi?able form of creative output. They include paintings, CDs, books and other tangible forms of creative expression. While data collection for world creative goods trade is not perfect, the tangibility of creative goods lends to easier data collection than obtains for intangibles such as creative services and intellectual property. The most complete publicly available data and analysis of creative industries trade both for CARIFORUM countries and the world is found in the UNCTAD Creative Economy Report (2010). According to the UNCTAD Creative Economy Report (2010), the value of world creative goods exports grew on an annual average by 11.5% between 2002 and 2008, with the total value of exports of creative goods being $407 billion in 2008. Developed countries accounted for the largest share of creative goods exports (56%) in 2008. On the other hand, developing countries’ creative goods exports more than doubled from $76 billion to $176 billion between 2002 and 2008 and accounted for 43% of creative goods exports in 2008. However, this is mainly due to China’s export expansion so that without China, developing countries’ share drops to 22% (UNCTAD 2010). Turning to the Caribbean, the picture appears in keeping with the general trend for developing countries. The Caribbean region generated a negative balance in trade of creative goods over the 2003 to 2008 period. For example, in 2008 the region imported $1,244 million in creative goods and only exported $551 million in that same year, resulting in a negative balance of $693 million (see Figure 1). Figure 2 provides data on the import and export of creative goods for several Caribbean countries for the year 2006, which is the best year in terms of coverage and consistency for the region. What the data shows is that the Dominican Republic was CARIFORUM’s largest importer and exporter of creative goods as well as the only country to generate a positive balance. All the other countries registered sizable negative balances.
Figure 1: Comparison of Caribbean Creative Exports and Imports, 2003-2008 Figure 2: Caribbean Creative Goods Imports and Exports (2006 $M)
Source: UNCTAD (2010)
The Creative Economy Report relies primarily on data from the United Nations’ COMTRADE database. As the data in this database is reported by the central statistical of?ces (CSOs) of the individual countries, the data in the database and in the report can only be as complete and as accurate as that provided by the CSOs. This reality explains why the creative goods trade data for CARIFORUM countries are not as disaggregated as that for other countries included in the Report. Available data also do not usually indicate CARIFORUM countries’ main export and import markets for creative goods. This means that the current contribution of creative goods trade to Caribbean economies remains underestimated and undervalued. The poor performance of the Caribbean in the creative goods sector relates to a number of factors. The shift towards the digital and Internet economy has lead to the deindustrialization of the region. Investments in the regional industries did not keep pace with the new technologies, for example, the move towards digital music (e.g. CDs, DVDs and later digital downloads). Where the region has remained competitive is in niche areas like instrument manufacturing. For instance, the steel pan industry in Trinidad and Tobago accounts for eighty percent of that country’s exports of creative goods. As shown in the Figure 3 below, Trinidad and Tobago’s steel pan exports ?uctuated over the 1999 to 2008 period but have risen over the 2006 to 2008 period to TT$4,000,000.
Figure 3: Steelpan Instruments Exports, 1999-2008 (TT$)
Source: UNCTAD (2010)
Source: Trinidad & Tobago’s Central Statistical Of?ce continued on page 7
6
www.creativeindustriesexchange.com
Volume 3 July - September 2011