First Almond Milk Company to Open in Jamaica

Local distribution and food production companies T. Geddes Grant Distributors and Seprod recently partnered with American brand Naturally Almond to set up the first almond milk manufacturing plant in Jamaica. According to T Geddes Grant managing director Michael Subratie, almond milk is the fastest growing non-dairy beverage in Jamaica and its sales have increased by 15-percent annually on the island. “All of the almond milk in Jamaica is currently imported,” Subratie said. “This will actually be made here and the price point will actually be about 10 to 12 percent below what the consumer now pays for the imported stuff.” While the country will still rely on almonds imported from California, Seprod will use its current dairy facility Serge Island Dairies to produce and package the plant-based milk. The Naturally Almond brand milk will initially be available in four flavors—original, vanilla, original unsweetened, and vanilla unsweetened—with a chocolate flavor to be released later this year. The partnership plans to export Jamaican-produced almond milk to surrounding islands including Trinidad and Barbados in the future. Global sales of almond milk are predicted to boom within the plant-based milk market, which is expected to reach $35 billion by 2024.