By Andrew Gioannetti

Copyright newsday

FURNESS Chemicals Ltd has added five locally manufactured cleaning products to the shelves of all PriceSmart stores in TT, expanding its presence in the country’s retail market.

The new items are the Mighty Kleen Purple Power Degreaser, Mighty Kleen Window and Glass Cleaner, Mighty Kleen Purple Toilet Bowl Cleaner, Lime Out Bathroom Cleaner and Reflecta Floor Polish.

They join the company’s established best-sellers, Oxi Wash laundry detergent and Fantastico disinfectants, which continue to rank among PriceSmart’s top-selling cleaning brands.

In a release, executive chairman Patrick A Ferreira described the partnership as a boost for consumers and for the local economy.

Ferreira said he was “very pleased with the partnership with Pricesmart and its members will benefit from quality, affordable, locally-made cleaning products as opposed to the foreign brands that consume much-needed foreign exchange.”

Furness Chemicals is the manufacturing arm of the Furness Trinidad Group of Companies, which has operated in the chemicals sector for decades.

The company began through a joint venture with Diversey Canada, a global supplier of cleaning and hygiene products, before taking full control of the business.

The company’s Sea Lots plant supplies household and industrial cleaners to the domestic market while also exporting close to 40 per cent of its production to regional and Dutch Caribbean territories.

The broader Furness Group, which celebrates its 180th anniversary this year, is regarded as the oldest operating company in TT and among the oldest in the Caribbean. Founded in 1845, it has evolved from its shipping and trading roots into a diversified conglomerate spanning manufacturing, distribution, and services.