PRESENTATION
OF MARTINIQUE
GEOGRAPHY
POPULATION
ECONOMY
(Industry, Agriculture, Tourism)
ASSETS
GEOGRAPHY
Martinique is a French tropical island covering
1,100 sq.km. It is part of the Caribbean archipelago. It has been
a French ‘département’ since 1946 and is 7,000km
from mainland France.
Martinique is one of the volcanic islands that border the Caribbean
basin. It is mountainous with great differences between the humid,
rainy north and the flatter, drier south. Its tropical climate,
tempered by the trade winds, has two main seasons – one dry
and the other rainy.
The administrative structure of the island is made up of thirty-four
towns divided into four administrative districts - Fort de France,
Saint-Pierre, Trinité and Marin. The geographical distribution
of the population is very uneven. One-third of the towns have
more than 10,000 inhabitants. Fort de France, the capital, has
almost 100,000 inhabitants or about one quarter of the island’s
total population. Lamentin, a town in the centre, is the largest
in surface area and, with Fort de France, Schoelcher and Saint-Joseph,
belongs to an inter-urban management zone.
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POPULATION
Martinique had 381,427 inhabitants
in 1999. The growth rate between 1990 and 1999 was 6.1%.
The growth of the population is reflected in an increase in
the working population. There was an unemployment rate of 29.2%
in 1999 as against 30.3% in 1998. This fall in unemployment
is a sign that the improvement in the economic situation over
the last two years has had a positive effect on employment.
However, economic growth has not yet had the same positive impact
as in mainland France. The level of activity and the number
of jobs created are not sufficient to significantly lower the
number of the unemployed.
Following proposals made by members of parliament from the French
overseas ‘départements’, the French government
has introduced a Basic Law for the Overseas Departments that
has an economic component providing for a raft of measures to
lessen labour costs, increase employment and help existing companies
and start-ups.
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ECONOMY
The Martinican economy is
developing, but remains fragile. Various geographical and structural
constraints hamper its dynamism, seriously affecting its capacity
for growth.
There are about 21,000 businesses in Martinique (excluding agriculture
and non-tradable services). Six out of ten have no employees
and only 4% have more than ten employees. Only four companies,
two of which are nationalised, have more than 400 employees.
Talking about companies in Martinique means talking about very
small companies and sole traders. Any development project has
to bear this in mind.
Most Martinican companies are in the tertiary sector. Talking
about companies in Martinique also means noting that 6% of tradable
added value is created by the primary sector, 20% by the industrial
sector and 74% by the tertiary sector.
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Industry
Martinican industry is of
recent date if we exclude sugar production in the 18th century
and the 19th century sugar factories. It was only at the end
of the 1960’s that new industrial companies appeared. This
process gained ground with the tax allowance law of 1986. In
1994, 91% of Martinican companies were less than 20 years old
and 56% less than 10 years old. Martinican companies are medium-sized
(89% have less than 20 employees and only 3% have more than
50). They remain mostly family firms.
Agro-industry is the largest single activity, covering sugar
and rum, fruit processing, soft drinks and dairy products.
Manufacturing is dominated by intermediary goods, including
building materials (cement), metals (galvanised sheeting, rebars)
and furniture. It suffers from the small size of the market,
export-related difficulties and competition from imports. Intermediary
goods industries are highly dependant on local demand and are
in deep crisis, being directly affected by activity in the building
sector, local authority policies, the level of imports and the
general volume of economic activity.
Capital goods industries, on the other hand, have seen some
growth.
Consumer goods industries are suffering from not having been
able to adapt to changes occurring since 1990, to competition
from imports and to the small size of the market.
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Agriculture
The relative importance of
agriculture in the Martinican economy has declined over the
last twenty years. The surface area cultivated and its tradable
added value (less than 7% today) have consistently fallen.
Banana growing is an important activity
Bananas employ almost 16,000 people, about half of the rural
population, and have shaped land development and the landscape.
They are the main crop and the main export.
Sugar-cane growing is the second largest agricultural activity
on the island and makes a very considerable contribution to
economic and social stability (1,400 direct jobs and 2,300 indirect
ones). The value of sugar-cane production in 1998 was FF79.9
million, or 3.9% of total agricultural production.
However, this activity is in sharp decline. There are only 283
planters, one sugar factory and nine distilleries. Only the
latter can claim to have any development potential, notably
thanks to the obtaining of the ‘appellation d'origine contrôlée’
(AOC) label for Martinique’s plantation rum, which opens
up possibilities on the European and world markets.
Pineapple growing is in crisis. This activity only employs 1,200
people on 98 farms and has to compete on an uneven playing field
with Asian pineapples.
Some diversification crops, such as flowers, dasheen, yam, melons,
vegetables, fruit and staple crops, are being grown for the
local market.
Animal husbandry is a developing sector and now covers 26% of
total local consumption. It has considerable potential.
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Tourism
Tourism is an important pillar
of the Martinican economy and has an appreciable impact on employment.
However, there are considerable variations within this sector.
Although stay-over tourism is doing quite well, cruise tourism
has been spiralling down over the last few years. In addition,
this sector is going through a period of change with the promotion
of green tourism.
The increase in stay-over tourism seems to have been particularly
strong at the beginning of the 1990s because of the combination
of two factors - the fall in airline prices thanks to the deregulation
of air transport and the effects of the tax allowance law.
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ASSETS
Martinique has many assets:
- Belonging both to the French Republic and to Europe means
that it can access considerable resources that can be used to
‘prime the pump’ for intensive growth and economic
development to lessen dependency on imports
- An exceptional geographical situation, the lynchpin between
Europe, the Caribbean and the Americas. This situation, insufficiently
exploited today, opens up possibilities for Martinique (and
for Guadeloupe and French Guyana), thanks to its integration
within Europe, to become a launching-pad for regular contacts
with countries in the Americas
- Good infrastructure (roads, water, electricity, telecommunications,
health, port and airport) despite some weaknesses here and there
- Undeniable potential in vocational training, despite a lack
of fit at the moment to the needs of companies and to the requirements
of the labour market
- A relatively young population whose dynamism can be used for
publicly-funded development projects
- A very rich cultural and natural heritage that means that
Martinique can aim for excellence in tourism and agro-foods.$
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