MONTEGO BAY, St James –Mark Hart, the chief executive officer of Caribbean Producers Jamaica (CPJ) Limited has sought to explain the reason behind his company’s decision to cease the distribution of leading energy drink, Red Bull.

“Red Bull was not taken away from us; we gave it up because it just was not viable. It just did not make much sense to continue marketing it, ” Hart told Sunday Finance.

Last month, Wisynco Group Limited began the islandwide distribution of the popular energy drink. Wisynco’s chief executive officer, William Mahfood, in an interview with Sunday Finance, said that “Red Bull came to us looking for better penetration of its product…They were looking for a company that could fend off the proliferation of competitors coming unto the market an establish the brand as the unassailable leader and thought we could do that job.”

Caribbean Producers Jamaica Limited a manufacturing and distribution company headquartered in Montego Bay, began the distribution of Red Bull seven years ago.

“We brought Red Bull here in 2003,” Hart said. “At that time they were looking for a distribution company, and what impressed me with the brand was that they were prepared to invest US$250,000 and that they were importing promotional vehicle and would assist in the marketing of the product so we thought it was a good idea to distribute the product,” he explained.

According to the CPJ CEO, the product was an instant success.

Within the first year, he said, the company sold 360,000 cases of the product.

Each case consists of 24 eight ounce cans.

In 2007, sales rose to 800,000 cases representing sales of about US$24 million.

But Hart noted that less than a year later, the downturn in the economy began to impact negatively on the product. Sales, he said, fell by 50 per cent during 2009 compared to 2007.

“Inspite of the bad economy, Red Bull had made a decision to increase the price of the product at the end of 2008 and again at the beginning of the following year, and this also contributed to the dramatic reduction of sales,” he explained.

At the same time, he added, Red Bull was trying to meet targets which were unrealistic. “So there was a lot of pressure to move cases through discounting and so on in a declining market and the business became less profitable. At that time, CPJ was carrying massive infrastructure, including direct sales teams, route sales teams and our infrastructure just could not survive the declining market,” Hart explained.

He added that after discussions with Red Bull, CPJ decided to assist the brand in facilitating a smooth transition to which ever company was select to distribute the product.

Red Bull, founded in Austria in 1984, is the most popular energy drink in the world. It reportedly enjoys global annual sales of US$4.6 billion.