UNCERTAINTY surrounds the 17-year-old distribution deal between Wisynco Group and Ocean Spray following last week’s announcement by multinational giant PepsiCo that it has acquired exclusive rights to manufacture and distribute the US cranberry juice provider’s beverages throughout the region.

Wisynco, Jamaica’s bottler and distributor for Pepsi’s biggest rival, Coca-Cola, could lose some 10 per cent of its revenue stream — based on 2009 reports — if it has to surrender the Ocean Spray distributorship.

The company’s aggressive marketing and distribution made Jamaica the top per capita consumer of Ocean Spray cranberry juice in the world.

In 2008, the manufacturer and distributor, based in White Marl, St Catherine, merged the Ocean Spray brand with its own line of purified water, Wata, to create the hit cranberry-flavoured water product, popularly known as ‘cran wata’.

But a cloud was cast over Wisynco’s distribution deal last week when Pepsi and Ocean Spray Cranberries announced a strategic alliance which gives Pepsi exclusive rights for a term of 20 years over a portfolio of Ocean Spray cranberry- and blueberry-based beverages throughout its Latin America Beverages division, which includes countries in the Caribbean, Central America and South America.

“There is still some uncertainty as to what the future holds,” Wisynco managing director William Mahfood told the Business Observer. “There are ongoing discussions with Ocean Spray… In a few days we may have some information.

“As you can imagine, we can’t hold discussions with Pepsi because we are Pepsi’s biggest competitor in the market,” Mahfood noted.

Pepsi Jamaica did not respond to questions from the Business Observer before press time yesterday. But the company issued a press release stating that Pepsi will share marketing responsibilities with Ocean Spray for the products and intends to collaborate on product innovation across the region.

“We see tremendous opportunities to grow our beverage business in emerging markets throughout Latin America, and we continue to take steps to strengthen our brand portfolio through product innovation, marketing and strategic partnerships,” said Luis Montoya, president of PepsiCo Latin America Beverages.

“Ocean Spray is already a great PepsiCo partner in the US, and we believe this will be a winning combination for Latin American consumers and customers,” he said. “It positions us well to continue to gain share of the growing juice category.”

Wisynco, which grosses over $8 billion in annual revenues, invested $1-billion in a 260,000 – square-foot warehousing and distribution centre near White Marl less than five years ago, aimed at deepening its manufacturing and exporting capacity and allowing it to produce a range of juices it imports for distribution into the island. The Ocean Spray brand was an integral part of those plans, with the Ocean Spray Wata product receiving very positive market response since its 2008 launch, including an award for Breakthrough Product of the Year from the Jamaica Manufacturers Association in 2008. In 2010, the Mahfood family-run company began exporting ‘cran wata’ to regional markets.

Wisynco’s relationship with Coca-Cola began in 2006 when it aqcuired the exclusive rights to distribute the multinational’s range of products with a specific mandate to increase Coke’s stake in a domestic cola market dominated by Pepsi.