Hawaiian Natural Water
will expand in Japan

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By Dave Segal
dsegal@starbulletin.com

Hawaiian Natural Water Co. has partnered with a newly formed Japan company to ship Hawaiian Springs natural water overseas.

Amcon Distributing Co.'s Big Island subsidiary, which last month completed a $2.2 million expansion at its Keaau bottling facility, said it will produce its first 1,600 cases Friday and will ship them next week to Chiba, Japan-based Niwa Co., which was formed by businessman Daisuke Hashimoto. The product will be the same as is sold in Hawaii but the label will be changed to list the nutritional facts in Japanese.

The deal with Niwa represents the 7-year-old Hawaiian Natural Water's first large-scale distribution agreement overseas. Previously, Hawaiian Natural Water has had intermittent distribution in Thailand, Italy and Japan. In the fourth quarter, the company sent 1,200 cases to Japan to a small company called Pure Foods Japan. Pure Foods, which didn't have an interest in growing, will now buy Hawaiian Springs water from Niwa.

"We expect the Japan market will grow to about 1 million cases in three years," said Roger Morey, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Hawaiian Natural Water. "The potential is very, very large in Japan. They enjoy our water and we've gotten favorable reception wherever we've been. We're locked now into what we feel is a strong distributor in Niwa."

Niwa so far has secured one customer, Sony Plaza, which has 55 locations in Tokyo, Osaka and other metropolitan areas in Japan. Sony Plaza plans to feature Hawaiian Springs water at the retain chain's annual Hawaiian Fair.