Jamaican Teas growing faster than it can build

Jamaican Teas Ltd has nearly exhausted the capacity of its rural St Andrew headquarters less than two years after relocating to a facility almost twice the combined size of its previous operations.

The company officially moved its dry pack and tea-packing operations to a 65,000-square-foot facility in Temple Hall, St Andrew, in August 2024, having sold its former Bell Road factory and vacated rented premises on Montgomery Avenue. The Bell Road site spanned 20,000 square feet, while the Montgomery Avenue location had 14,000 square feet, Chief Executive John Mahfood said.

The move was designed to deliver greater production capacity, improved workflow, and expanded export capability — and by those measures it has succeeded. General Manager of Caribbean Dreams Foods Limited Charles Barrett told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting that benefits materialised quickly after the relocation.

"When we moved, we immediately got some 30 per cent more production space, so that is why in 2024-2025 we were able to add somewhere around seven or eight pieces of equipment, particularly on the dry-packed side that does the spices," Barrett said.

The gains in warehousing space were more modest, however, and the company's footprint now needs to grow again as production hits record levels. Barrett outlined several options available to the company.

"We have the land, we can expand, we can also go up if we want, and there's also unutilised land adjoining that belongs to us that can be part of any expansion plan," he said, adding that Jamaican Teas needs to develop a strategy for the next five to 10 years.

Hurricane Melissa last October disrupted manufacturing and exports, while a weaker equities market reduced investment income, contributing to a net loss of $21.6 million in the December first quarter. 

On the export front, General Manager, commercial, at Caribbean Dreams Jonathan Mahfood said the company grew exports by 53 per cent, with emerging markets such as Guyana expanding by 93 per cent. Exports now account for 60 per cent of total manufacturing production, he said, the result of a deliberate diversification strategy.

Jamaican Teas posted net profit of $230 million for the 12 months ended September 2025, which virtually doubled year-earlier levels.

neville.graham@gleanerjm.com