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Dominica Coconut Products shuts down operations

Dominica Coconut Products in happier times.

Mahaut, Dominica (TDN) Representatives for the Dominica Coconut Products (DCP) the country’s leading manufacturing company have announced its closure effective November 30, 2015.

The announcement was received with shock and disbelief by the close to 100 stunned employees who got the news in a hastily arranged meeting at the company’s premises in Mahaut on Thursday. Several employees were seen leaving the meeting with tears running down their faces as they contemplated the end of their careers.

The company was formed in 1965 by Elias Nassief and later taken over by his son Phillip Nassief who utilized coconuts in the creation of a slew of soaps and other beauty products. In its heyday the company exported millions of dollars of those products, including its ‘Refresh Soap’ to countries throughout the Caribbean region such as Jamaica, Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua, Grenada, and Cuba.

It also obtained licenses to produce under international brand names and to be exclusive providers to certain cruise lines and companies such as those of Donald Trump.

In 1995 at the height of its export potential the company by then the oldest and most profitable manufacturer on the Island was sold by the Nassief family to international manufacturers Colgate Palmolive.

Tropical Storm Erica dealt a tremendous blow to the company with millions of dollars worth of equipment and products been swept into the sea when the nearby river overflowed its banks and inundated the premises.

The closure of the company is bad news for a country reeling from high rates of unemployment and very little economic activity. It will exacerbate the low level of exports and bring further distress to the level of public finances.

In its 50 years of operations in Dominica the company employed thousands of workers and contributing millions of dollars to the Dominican economy.