Chamber President salutes DDL’s Sandals achievement

– a ‘boost’ for the manufacturing sector

President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry Komal Ramnauth has said that the recent agreement between Demerara Distillers Ltd (DDL) and Sandals Resort International under which El Dorado will be the exclusive pouring rum at all Sandals Resorts is an outstanding achievement for the local private sector and for Guyana as a whole. “It’s a tremendous accomplishment, Ramnauth told Stabroek Business in a telephone interview on Wednesday. In addition to being the pouring rum for Sandals resorts the El Dorado range of Premium and Super Premium rums will occupy prime positions in all Sandals Gift Shops at its resorts located in Jamaica, the Bahamas, Antigua, Saint Lucia, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

DDL’s Komal Samaroo and Sandals’ Butch Stewart

What he described as “a very significant breakthrough for a Guyanese product on the external market” was, Ramnauth said, “a reward for all of the hard work in direct marketing which has been put in by DDL’s Vice President for International Marketing Mr Komal Samaroo. From the standpoint of both DDL and Sandals the agreement represents and outstanding feat in collaboration by two accomplished Caribbean companies,” Ramnauth said.

The agreement between DDL and Sandals signed in July this year signals the end of an over twenty-year supply agreement with the Jamaican rum company J.Wray & Nephew, the producers of the world-renowned Appleton Rum.

Demerara Distillers is one of the oldest rum producers in the world and has been in existence for over 300 years. The company produces an extensive range of aged rums and launched its flagship 15-year-old rum in 1992. The El Dorado brand continues to win acclaim and is heralded as one of the finest rums in the world.  DDL’s rums are manufactured at its Diamond plant.

Ramnauth told Stabroek Business that the achievement of DDL had demonstrated what could be accomplished for locally manufactured products through skilled and deliberate marketing. “The accomplishment by DDL demonstrates that there is reward for sustained effort for all,” Ramnauth said.