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Overseas markets

“You have to consider the different factors that contribute to your profit margins at the end of the day… the cost of making a product, the cost to export it, the cost to distribute it, which also includes marketing and promotion.”

That was the caution from JAMPRO Senior Export Facilitation Officer, Jeanelle Brown during a recent Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) Virtual Biz Zone webinar, as she urged entrepreneurs to factor the full cost of getting a product into an overseas market into their export plans before determining whether an opportunity will actually be profitable.

The session was held on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, as part of a two-part Export Readiness series.

Brown said prospective exporters can run into difficulty when they calculate the cost of making a product but fail to account for the additional expenses that contribute to its final price in an overseas market.

Earlier in the session, Brown stressed that pricing for overseas markets should form part of the business’ export plan.

“Pricing your product for sale abroad is critical and should be in your plan. Your cost estimates should include duties, taxes, shipping, and marketing. All of these factors will impact your profit margin,” she explained.

The calculation can become even more technical when certification, licensing and other product-and market-specific requirements are considered.

“Because imagine I make soap, and I’m selling it to the local market. It costs me $15 to produce it and sell it back to the domestic market,” she said. “But when I need to send it overseas, I have to pay another $15 to get it there. I can’t sell that soap locally for $15 and then sell it in the US for $15. I am literally operating at a loss there, or nil.”

She continued: “I have to ensure that I capture all the associated costs, including what it costs to get the product into the export market, and then I price my product based on it. But first, as I said, you have to understand what the different costs are.”

For businesses exporting for the first time, Brown encouraged entrepreneurs to move beyond estimates where possible and obtain information from professionals involved in getting goods across borders.

“Get some quotations. If you’re not sure, if it’s your first time moving products overseas, get some quotations from the different shipping lines. Find out how much it costs to move a container or a carton to a market that you intend to send the products to,” she advised.

Although those prices may change, Brown said obtaining quotations gives the entrepreneur an indication of the overall cost of moving the product and provides a more realistic figure to incorporate into export projections.

Costing, however, should not stop at getting the product into the country. Brown said entrepreneurs must understand the landed cost of the product, the margins required along the distribution chain and the prices consumers are already paying for competing products in the target market.

“And reality check, if you don’t know the landed costs, channel margins and competitor price points, you are not yet pricing for the market,” she said.

She encouraged entrepreneurs who are able to do so to examine their intended markets directly.

“Look on the shelves, see who the competition is, see what they’re pricing their products for, and then work it back to see if you can afford to do the same, and if you position your product anywhere near those products.”

Working backwards from the prevailing market price can help an entrepreneur determine whether the cost of producing, exporting and distributing the product leaves sufficient room for a viable return.

“Are you going to be profitable? Because you have to ask yourself that question at the end of the day,” Brown said.

“You might want to… it might seem like a great thing to do to send your product to a certain market, but when you do the calculation, if it’s not going to be profitable, it won’t make sense.”

Lowering the cost of production

Brown also encouraged entrepreneurs to use the planning process to identify available incentives that could reduce their cost base.

She pointed to the Ministry of Industry, Investment & Commerce (MIIC) Productive Inputs Relief (PIR), an incentive available within Jamaica’s fiscal incentives framework for qualifying productive activities, including manufacturing and primary production. 

“So, when persons hear incentives, they might not be aware that there is a government incentive by the name of PIR, that’s the Productive Inputs Relief,” Brown said. “Knowledge of those incentives and how to access them is something that you want to consider, because at the end of the day, it helps to lower your overall costs.”

Using a manufacturer that sources packaging overseas as an example, Brown explained that accessing applicable incentives could help reduce the cost of importing inputs required to produce goods in Jamaica.

She said these opportunities should be investigated during the planning stage rather than after an entrepreneur has already committed to an export market.

“So that’s something that you should always consider as part of your planning,” Brown said.

The JBDC Virtual Biz Zone underscored that the decision to export should therefore go beyond identifying an overseas buyer or market opportunity. Entrepreneurs must know what it will cost to produce the goods, meet the requirements of the destination market, move and distribute the product, promote it to consumers and compete at the prevailing market price.

Only after those costs are accounted for can a business properly assess whether an export opportunity is commercially viable.

The JBDC Virtual Biz Zone forms part of the Corporation’s efforts to equip micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with practical business development information to strengthen their competitiveness and prepare them for sustainable growth.

The JBDC and JAMPRO are sister agencies under the Ministry of Industry, Investment & Commerce (MIIC). & Commerce (MIIC)