Forget
about discovering oil; Jamaican Black Castor Oil and commercial grade castor
oil may be worth some US$300 million.
So
says Interim president of JCIA (Jamaica Castor Industry Association), Joel
Harris at a JCIA/JAMPRO sponsored Castor Oil Production workshop as reported in
the article “US$100m
Market Beckons For Jamaican Black Castor Oil”, Published Wednesday July 26,
2017 by Avia Collinder, The Jamaica
Gleaner.
The Workshop, which was held on Tuesday, July 25th, 2017 focused on making the production of Castor Oil more industrial. This is as opposed to labour intensive methods employed which include:
1. Picking
2. Threshing
3. Roasting
4. Boiling
5. Pulping
with mortar and pestle
6. Boiling
to obtain the oil
Such
an industrial-scale process has the advantage of:
1. Improving
margins
2. Reducing
inefficiencies
3. Promoting
consistency of quality among providers
Developing
such standards for a factory process could position processors to reliably
supply foreign markets.
Castor Oil Production
Standard needed to tap foreign Markets
The
demand is huge in the USA, according to Joel Harris, quote: “Research shows a demand of between US$100
million between the United States and the UK, and US$200 million in Africa”.
This
can be seen from the high prices of Castor Oil both locally and in the USA:
1. JA$1,000
for the 4 oz
2. JA$1,600
for the 8 oz
3. US$8
to US$9 for the 4 oz in the USA
With
a growing market for Jamaican Black Castor Oil and commercial grade castor oil,
of US$300 million or more based on the demand by communities of African descent
and Latino markets mainly for cosmetic purposes, the sky is the limit. Our only
competitor is India but Jamaican Black Castor Oil is world renown, like our
Blue Mountain Coffee.
Jamaican
Black Castor Oil has a dark colour, the results of roasting the beans. So
JCIA/JAMPRO initiative is two-fold; increase the number of Castor Farmers as
well as improve the product quality via the introduction of an industrial
process.
Jamaican Black Castor
Oil –JCIA and JAMPRO’s industry standards to net US$300 million
The
workshop was aimed at JCIA's 120 individual members and community group heads.
The aim is to not only educate oil producers but establish industry standards
and tap the collective knowledge of members.
Joel
Harris's own company, Shavuot Limited of Winters Pen in St Catherine, is
actively involved in the production of Castor Oil. Aside from producing two
55-gallon drums on a monthly basis, they also have been selling and marketing
herbal teas and spices under the Shavuot brand for the past two (2) years.
Joel Harris own experience should be motivation enough; his operation is profitable two (2) months after investing some $3 million in the start-up for the castor oil segment of his business. He benefits from the more efficient mechanical process, which yields 19.42% to 38.84% oil as pointed out by JCIA trainer and CEO of Temple Foods in Portland, Noel Terrier.
The
trash is not wasted; it can be used to make Biofuel as pointed out in my blog article
entitled “PCJ,
UTECH develop Castor Oil-based Biodiesel to reduce Oil imports by 97,000
barrels”.
I
hope that in planting more land to grow Castor Oil, the PCJ and UTECH also
develope the tech to recycle Cooking Oil, thereby creating Biofuel from Castor
Oil and Waste Cooking Oil Blends that can reduce Jamaica’s Oil Importation!!
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