CHAIRMAN of the Wisynco Group William Mahfood said the company could return some of its production overseas to satisfy growing demand in its export markets even though its focus now is on expanding local production.

Wisynco previously produced some of its beverages in the United States and the United Kingdom, but returned that production to Jamaica in recent years.

“We found out that it was better for consistency of quality to bring [our production] back to Jamaica and we were also able to produce more efficiently and cheaper here,” William Mahfood, chairman of the Wisynco Group, told the Jamaica Observer.

The company has since been focusing on exports to those markets. Currently exports make up under 5 per cent of Wisynco’s revenues. The hope is that exports will reach 10 per cent of revenues by 2025. Apart from the US and the UK, it also exports to Caricom markets and the Cayman Islands.

A foray into the Cuban market was discontinued last year because of pricing and stiff competition from similar products coming out of Mexico. Mahfood said some business was done in Panama in the past as well. Efforts were made to enter South America, but the company was unsuccessful.

“The biggest challenge that we have had in meeting demand for exports is in terms of production capacity,” he pointed out.

“Now we are putting in a lot more capacity and hopefully, once that capacity goes in, we will be able to meet some of those increased export demand.”

The capacity Mahfood is talking about is the $5-billion capital spend the company is now undertaking at both its Lakes Pen and White Marl, St Catherine locations to put in two new production lines to boost production by 40 per cent. Last year it restarted an old production line at its White Marl factory which almost doubled volume from the previous year just to meet demand for its CranWata products, including GrapeWata, but was still unable to satisfy the market.

The aim with the new bottling lines is to produce “new products and to some extent, completely new categories that we’re going into”. Those include new CranWata flavours that capture “flavours indigenous to Jamaica or to the region” and indicating that one could be sorrel CranWata.

“The big drive though is in exports,” Mahfood outlined to the Caribbean Business Report.

“We have tremendous opportunities to develop our brands across many markets.”

Currently, the company’s biggest export market is the United Kingdom. Together with the United States, it accounts for more than half of the total overseas sales of the company.

“This month we are shipping over 40 40-foot containers to the UK. But compared to our local sales, that’s relatively small,” Mahfood pointed out. In Jamaica, the average person consumes at least one Wisynco products at least once per day.

But the export market has been growing strongly. In the last year alone, exports grew 71 per cent to over $1 billion for the first time. Volumes to the UK surpassed expectations with its products breaking into the mainstream market. Similarly in the US, Wisynco said it is noting a crossover into Latin and other Caribbean consumers.

“If exports continue to grow at the pace it is growing and the UK market gets to the point where we have to ship around 300 containers per month, then at that point it wouldn’t suit us to ship it from here because it may become too expensive to do so. At that point it may suit us to look at putting a small factory in Europe to meet that demand. But for now we still have the capacity and the ability to ship it.”

Wisynco has sent upwards of 70 containers in a single month to the UK. Its products are distributed by GraceKennedy in that market. In the US its products reach the market through a network or regional distributors.

However, while Mahfood has his eyes on more exports, he is not about to lose sight of the Jamaica market.

“Ultimately, we have to meet the needs of the local market. It is as important as the export market. This is our base. We have all of the hotels and the institutions that use the products. We continue to try and find ways to increase the local market consumption, whether it’s taking market share from other players or just growing the markets.”

“It’s not a situation that we would dedicate specific production to export.But at the same time, if we don’t ensure that there is capacity available for them, it’s hard then to build those markets and then unlock some of that potential. So it’s really a balancing act.”

Meanwhile, Mahfood said coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wisynco has seen a strong bounce in sales. Revenues, which dipped in 2021 by 1.1 per cent to $31 billion, have seen growth of 22 per cent in 2022 to $39 billion.

“During COVID when the hotel industry was under pressure and the restaurant industry was under pressure, the diversity of our customer base and products really helped us to weather the story,” he said of the slowdown in 2021.

“Similarly, now that things are bouncing back in the hotel and we are meeting those needs and exceeding them where possible, we’re seeing the benefits of that.”

Wisynco over the last five years has seen its revenues grown 59 per cent to the previously mentioned $39 billion while its profit has grown at a faster pace, up 76 per cent to $4 billion.

The compound annual growth rate of its revenues has been 11 per cent over the period

“My expectation is for the next five years, we should continue growing at that rate as a minimum and possibly higher, and a lot of it has to do with ensuring that we have that additional capacity because without it, we wouldn’t be able to grow.”