US–based manufacturing company JEC Aseptics has inked a deal with the Musson Group of Companies for the manufacture and distribution of almond milk locally.

The milk, branded Naturally Almond, had its first production run completed at the Serge Island facilities in St Thomas last November and was introduced into the local retail trade in January by T Geddes Grant.

Both Serge Island and T Geddes Grant are owned by the Musson Group. Plans are that JEC Aseptics will manufacture almond milk in St Thomas for distribution locally and exportation to the United States before moving to Caribbean Community (Caricom) markets.

“Couple of things that we were looking for is the manufacturing capabilities – what companies were here that had the technology to capture the perfect blend of almond milk. We concluded that the best partner from a manufacture and distribution point of view was the Musson Group of Companies,” JEC Aseptics Business Development Manager Jorge Figueras told the Jamaica Observer during the official launch of the product at Eden Gardens on Wednesday.

“We started our negotiations and it took us about six months to get the right taste profile that we were looking for,” he continued. Already, the Musson Group has added roughly 35 new members of staff to carry out production and distribution processes.

According to managing director of T Geddes Grant, Michael Subratie, Jamaica consumes roughly 1.4 million litres of almond milk per year, all of which is imported. He noted that the manufacture of almond milk in Jamaica will not only allow JEC Aseptics to save on freight, duties and various costs involved to import, but will also improve Jamaica’s trade deficit.

Ultimately, JEC Aseptics wants to cement its place in the local market before beginning exporting to Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Belize.

“Jamaica’s proximity to the US makes it good for us to export. In phase two of our expansion, we are looking to export into Caricom. We already have a distribution facility in the FreeZone area ready to begin exporting the products,” Figueras told the

Caribbean Business Report.

Naturally Almond is available in four flavours: original, vanilla, original unsweetened, and vanilla unsweetened. The products are being marketed as plant-based and dairy-free beverages geared towards the healthy lifestyle market.

Already Naturally Almond has shown signs of its growth capabilities with an increase in unit sales by 24 per cent for February over the previous month.

“We have plans for a line extension in the third quarter of 2017 with the launch of a Naturally Almond chocolate variant,” Subratie said.