Spur Tree Spices Jamaica Limited is projected to record major growth for the 2022 financial year as the company makes moves to increase production and capacity.

The company boasts an impressive line of locally produced products which include seasonings, sauces, spices and canned products.

The company plans to capitalise on this growth by rationalising the operations of Exotic Products to double production over the next two years and gain a significant market share in the ackee market.

The acquisition by Spur Tree will allow the company to upgrade its infrastructure and equipment in order to increase productivity.

Spur Tree CEO Albert Bailey says the company is facing major challenges in meeting the international demand for ackee.

He noted however that Spur Tree is working assiduously to address the issue.

He was speaking last Wednesday (January 26) during Mayberry’s Investor Forum.

“We plan to address our ackee shortage by developing ackee farms. In fact, we have already started some work in this regard as we plan to accelerate our production of ackee,” he said, “not enough investment has been made in establishing ackee farms, so as a business this is something that we’re looking at and that will be implemented.”

Bailey adds that the company plans to continue building and capitalising on Brand Jamaica. He noted that he was excited about Spur Tree’s prospects for growth in the industry.

Spur Tree uses 80 per cent of local resources to create their products including raw material inputs, bottles, boxes and labels.

“There are so many excellent and wonderful flavours that we have here in Jamaica. We want to capitalise on the strength of brand Jamaica. That is what has propelled us in conjunction with the work we have done in the market. Brand Jamaica is very strong and that is what we represent,” he stated.

Dan Theoc, Mayberry’s senior vice president of investment banking, says he is pleased with the work Spur Tree has done and hopes to see more positive economic impact from the company.

“I’m excited about the country’s foreign exchange earnings. We’re seeing lots of positive signs where companies like Spur Tree are making a positive impact on the market. They make over 90 per cent of their revenue from exports. So I can see that on the supply side we will be earning a lot more U.S dollars as a country,” he said.

Up to September last year, Spur Tree reported a 28 per cent increase in revenues resulting in a 39 per cent increase in gross profit. The company also brought home over $542 million in revenue during the first eight months of 2021 and is set to grow in profitability by 35 per cent by the end of this fiscal year.

READ: Spur Tree Spices CEO addresses ackee, pepper supply shortage