Having established a noteworthy reputation locally, regionally and internationally, for its accomplishments in the rum manufacturing sector, Demerara Distillers Ltd is moving to further consolidate its more recent pursuits in the beverages sector through the launch of a plant designed to help meet the needs of a growing local fruit-based beverage market as well the dairy market.
A new plant which will enable the significant enhancement of the company’s TOPCO brand of juices and introduce a new milk-based beverage is currently “in commissioning mode,” DDL Executive Chairman Komal Samaroo told Stabroek Business in a recent interview. “We have designed a very flexible plant that gives us options,” Samaroo told this newspaper.
The company’s acquisition of the new plant, according to Samaroo, derives from its decision to benefit from a production facility that can be feasible in a small market whilst, simultaneously, being able to adjust to the requirements of increased demand. “We have designed a very flexible plant that gives us options. We have also taken the decision that the plant must be USDA [United States Department of Agriculture] – approved so that if in our product innovation we come up with things that we could sell on the US market, or the First World market, we could sell there. This plant is not simply an investment. It grew out of our desire to succeed, having found that depending on one source of business was not the way to go,” Samaroo outlined.
Asked about a time frame for the introduction of the new production plant into service Samaroo said it was still in the commissioning mode. “We start with the packaging then we have the pulping plant; we have the line that takes the fruit and automatically extracts the pulp and holds it in bulk until we’re ready for the juice; and then in that packaging plant there are features that deal with juices, there are features that deal with milk and other things that we will be doing eventually. We are still in that commissioning mode, over a period of eight months. We have launched the juice and we are still at a stage of market penetration. We are growing month after month,” he added.
The full launch of the production and distribution processes will be attended by a “specially delegated distribution system” comprising “a fleet of trucks” dedicated to the operation. “This is a whole different scale of operation. Juice alone couldn’t do it. With the milk that we’ve launched now we’re still building new markets,” Samaroo explained.
Asked about DDL’s confidence in the integrity of the local fruit supply market Samaroo responded that while DDL’s “first priority” was to seek to acquire fruits locally the company was prepared to look to the external fruit pulp market to ensure the reliability of its supplies. He disclosed that the company had moved to install a line to protect the integrity of its fruit supplies. “Fruits go on that line, it goes through a washing and a pulping process after which it is sterilized and stored in plastic barrels for the packaging line. So we have an automatic capability of processing fruits.”
Samaroo informs that only 50% of the fruit required for the DDL’s operations is available on the local market. Asked whether, in the circumstances, DDL might be prepared to enter into its own fruit production operations, Samaroo said that his understanding of business had led him to the view that those businesses that do best are usually inclined to stick to their core competencies. “Our core competence is processing and manufacturing, marketing and distributing, I do believe we have lots of farmers, with land and we give them a business opportunity to produce fruits,” he said.
Samaroo said that as part of the process of rolling out the project, DDL has staged a special session for farmers who supply the company with fruit, as well as the various agricultural agencies that support the farmers in order to bring them up to date with the project. “We brought everybody on board to share the vision,” he said.
Meanwhile, with regard to the company’s planned milk production initiative, Samaroo said that DDL had hosted a foreign company that specialises in the creation of milk collection systems. While clearly determined to press ahead with the project Samaroo conceded that such an initiative was not without its challenges. From the people that we have spoken to with previous experience of milk collection there are a number of challenges associated with collecting milk in the riverine areas.” These challenges, he said, had to do with maintaining quality and avoiding contamination.
Samaroo said that while it was DDL’s goal to secure locally produced milk, the company had secured “an interested partner,” an Israeli company with which it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding. ”We have had very meaningful discussions with them and what I like about it is that they have developed the best practices and the know-how.” He pointed out that once DDL secured a project, “the first phase is to identify areas in Guyana that are suitable for that project. We expect that by the end of the year we should have a couple of options from the government with regard to where land is possibly available.” This, he said, will be followed by a visit here, during “the first quarter of next month” by a technical team from the Israeli company to undertake “an evaluation of the location, sit with us and show us the parameters that have to do with investments and yield.” He disclosed that the company was hoping that a feasibility study can be undertaken “during the second quarter of the year… So we hope that by the middle of next year we will complete all the groundwork to be able to get an agreement on a joint-venture investment in a dairy farm. We also would like that project to include the involvement of local private dairy farmers so the know-how and the knowledge can be passed on and that additional supply, as the business grows, can come from more and more private farmers,” Samaroo said.
