J Wray & Nephew Fights Bootleggers, Empty Rum Bottles Could Again Be Collected

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Jwray & Nephew (JWN) could start collecting used white rum bottles as part of wide-ranging efforts to combat the counterfeit rum trade that has targeted its flagship product.

“The problem of illicit rum is not new,” said Greta Bogues, the general manager of JWN’S Corporate Affairs Division.

“It is one that the company has addressed head on over many years beginning with sophisticated systems of internal control which have been designed to maintain control over all rums produced by JWN,”

The fake rum trade was brought back into the spotlight recently, after a wholesale operator in Kingston was reportedly busted with boxes of suspected counterfeit JWN White Rum by members of the Organised Crime Investigation Division.

JWN estimates that the amount of illicit product in the market is less than one per cent, but industry insiders place the figure much higher, with some saying as much as 10 per cent of rum on the market is fake.

JWN White Rum, as the market leader, is the most popular target for bootleggers, say industry experts.

Some of the measures JWN urges consumers to use to identify fake white rum include: looking for impurity or foreign matter in the liquid; making sure the red seal, when broken, falls off freely into two equal pieces; and ensuring that the wording “WRAY & NEPHEW” appear three times on the red seal, in a consistent manner.

“As a concerned and responsible brand owner”, JWN has over the years instituted safety features, including the implementation of tamper-resistant packaging with state-of-the-art features to address the problem, said Bogues. These features are reviewed on a regular basis to reflect industry improvements.

“Any improvements are communicated with the trade through ongoing dialogue so as to sensitise them to the illicit product,” she said. “JWN is also grateful to the Organised Crime & Investigation Division of the JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force) and the Tax Administration Department, formerly TAAD, for their unstinting work in seeking out and prosecuting the criminals involved in the trade, thus protecting consumers and the brand.”

Some industry insiders claim that, contributing to the “growing” illegal trade, is the fact that JWN does not have a system in place to collect empty rum bottles.

Bogues said the collection of empty bottles was discontinued two years ago due to low returns, but it is now being reconsidered as an option to help protect consumers.

“This option was previously implemented along with another business partner in 2004 as we sought to divert waste to a recycling facility. However it was discontinued in 2010 due to low return numbers and an unreliable verification process,” said Bogues, adding that JWN bottles are also widely recycled by the Jamaicans, which could have contributed to the low return numbers.

by : Julian Richardson

Assitant Business Co-ordinator richardsonj@jamaicaobserver.com