Above: 10 Cane

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Luxury giant LVMH is shifting the production of its flagship rum brand 10 Cane from Trinidad to Barbados.

The Paris-based firm announced that it would be blending and bottling 10 Cane at Barbados’ Foursquare Rum Distillery, a move that could bring in as much as $50 million USD in foreign exchange to the country, Foursquare said.

The venture will be executed over the next five years, according to Foursquare Chairman Sir David Seale.

“This is very exciting because this brand, having been established worldwide, it has a track record so we are not starting from zero,'” Seale said. “We are starting from a point that is a guaranteed amount that we can produce.”

Because LVMH still has stocks of rum from Trinidad, it would likely not take up the full stock until after a year or so.

“I can only imagine that Moet and Hennessy came here because they are satisfied that they are going to get a quality product,” Seale said. “Once rum gets the real recognition it should get from the government of Barbados, it has the potential of earning about $250 million [USD] a year.”

Industry Minister Donville Inniss said rum was a “distinct Barbadian product, and I believe that we are the home of rum.”

“That is something that I don’t think we have fully capitalized on as yet,” he said.

The rum first launched in Trinidad in 2005.