John Myers Jr, Senior Reporter

The makers of Juiciful, a forerunner in the juice market that has been pummelled by the competition, is getting ready to fight back with a new line of juices packaged in plastic.

The Jamaica Citrus Growers Association is taking Juiciful upmarket, against rivals such as Trade Winds Citrus, makers of TruJuice.

Juiciful will be putting out 100 per cent juice products as well as a 58 per cent blend to be sold under the new name 'Joose'.

"We are easily the dominant box drink brand, everybody knows us for box drinks from 1962 so we have kind of segued up market," said sales and marketing manager, Owen Flowers.

He explained further that the decision to target the premium market was made about two years ago when Trade Winds began moving down market with the introduction of its "Freshhh" box drink blends, a market that was Juiciful's comfort zone.

The JCGA has now put the plan into effect, to grab a share of the market created from changing life styles.

"There is a growing awareness that people are thinking, eating and drinking healthier," said Flowers.

"People are staying away from sugars, so while the schools and certain events are looking down market and there is a tremendous opportunity for that product, we are looking too at other areas (such as) the health conscious sector. We have over 500,000 diabetics in Jamaica and we want to have products that these people too can have."

Enlisted new supermarkets

But the JCGA is also looking for more business from the supermarkets and hotels.

"Since I have been here we have enlisted over 310 new supermarkets, generating new business," said Flowers.

The Juciful products were mainly sold from its Bog Walk factory and through designated distribution outlets.

But with the introduction of the new up market line of juices, which now accounts for about 20 per cent of production, Flowers said a more focused effort was made to develop the supermarkets, convenience stores and hotels as channels.

JCGA estimates that its revenue from the plastic-packaged drinks at just over $103 million or 15 per cent of the company's $689-million revenue.

The response to the 100 per cent, no sugar added premium juices has been encouraging, said Flowers. "This is doing very well," he said.

The juice is packaged in one and half gallon sizes, plus a 940 ml screw cap box package.

The premium juices are available in orange, orange pineapple and pineapple.

Getting good reviews

"We have under development right now apple and grapefruit pineapple and the indicators are pointing very well to market acceptance. In the places where we have done our sampling we are getting good reviews," said the marketing manager.

The JCGA also has a line called the "Bag in the Box" and "Smoothie", which are sold mainly in the hotels. Here, fruit flavoured juice mixes are dispensed on the go through automated dispensers which allows customers to select from a variety of tropical fruit flavours.

But cash flow problems has limited the amount of business the JCGA does in this segment. It has little capital to invest in the dispensing machines that it says are in demand by the hotels.

The JCGA's operation, which is located in Bog Walk, St. Catherine, has a capacity to process 1.5 million boxes of citrus annually, with an annual turnover of between $600 million and $700 million.

Flowers is confident that JCGA will be able to grab a profitable share of the premium juice segment, despite the presence of big name players like Trade Winds Citrus, GraceKennedy and Serge Island Dairies.

"We are taking our time to make sure that we come out with a product that is really good," he said.

Trade Winds estimates that it has seven per cent of the soft drink market, according to marketing manager, Casey Osbourne, who says there are no breakout figures for the juice segment.

Osbourne says Trade Winds produces six million gallons of juices annually, but declined comment on the company's turnover.

john.myers@gleanerjm.com