Spain - EU trade deal helps Spanish company bring sustainable packaging to the Caribbean

Thanks to the EU-CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), Spain's Ly Company has been able to invest in the Dominican Republic and to export Europe-made machinery to its local plant there without paying any customs duties. The investment has created new jobs and made an important contribution towards more environmentally friendly practices in the region.

Ly Company was founded in 2016 with the aim of minimising the impact of single-use plastic packaging on the environment.

The company produces water packed in carton. More than 80% of the packaging is made from cardboard sourced from responsibly managed, FSC-certified forests and the cap is made from sugar cane. The CO₂ emissions generated by the packaging of their product is considerably lower than for other types of packaging.

The company has experienced rapid growth that has taken them from being a start-up to becoming a world leader in the sector in only seven years. Its products are currently marketed in more than forty countries. It has several factories and commercial offices abroad.

Investing in the Caribbean

Ly Company recently decided to invest in a new plant in the Dominican Republic. Thanks to the EU-Caribbean trade deal, Ly had simpler and more predictable procedures for setting up its local operations. The company invested €4.5 million in establishing the new plant, which is equipped with exclusively Europe-made machinery and technology and enables the company to serve both the national market, the Caribbean market, Latin America, and the United States.

Easier and cheaper exports of EU-made products

Thanks to the preferences granted by the EU-CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement, Ly Company Caribe was able to import European machinery as well as different raw materials and inputs duty-free. This was a win-win, since using Europe-made machinery supports European jobs, while it also helps the Dominican Republic to move up the value chain by producing finished sustainable products.

Promoting sustainability with our trading partners

Ly Company Group allocates part of the revenue from each of its containers to collaborate with social projects through its Ly Company Agua y Vida Foundation, which was inaugurated in 2022 and carries out projects and social work in a variety of countries.

In the Dominican Republic, the Group is involved in projects to improve access to water for the most vulnerable. The foundation supports actions aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

Additionally, the foundation has partnered up with the NGO Pozos sin Fronteras, supporting well construction and water extraction projects for areas with very scarce resources, with projects in South America as well as in Africa.

Ly Company Caribe received the EPA award in the circular economy category at the 6^th Edition of these awards, organised in December 2022 by the EU Delegation to the Dominican Republic.

We were created with a clear mission, to minimise the climate and environmental impact of single-use plastic packaging, and we chose water, the most packaged and most consumed product in the world. Agreements such as the EPA allow us to develop our project and achieve as much as possible. This is our commitment, and we will not stop working hard and diligently to realise it.

Francisco Rodríguez, Global CEO & Founder, Ly Company Group

Key facts

• Founded in: 2016
• Headquarters: Málaga, Spain
• Employees: 150+
• Annual turnover: ∼€60 Million (2023)