Export of pricey seawater to Japan is growing fast
By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Kona Nigari water is said to be free of modern contaminants. |
Japanese consumers are paying top dollar for desalinated Hawaiian deep-sea water, which is marketed as a dietary supplement that helps with weight loss, stress reduction, improved skin tone and digestion.
Several companies, capitalizing on the trend, have invested $65 million in bottling facilities near Kona on the Big Island and employ about 100 workers, according to state officials. Over the next year the state estimates the companies will invest another $100 million in bottling plants and hire 400 to 600 additional workers.
"I think they're one of the top exporters already for the state," said Steve Bretschneider, deputy director for the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. "The other great thing is we have plenty of it. We're not going to run out."
The business has grown large enough that Gov. Linda Lingle decided it's time to issue an official Hawai'i deep-sea water certificate. The state will charge companies a fee to use a special logo, certifying the seawater is from Hawai'i. The program — which Lingle is to announce at a news conference today — could generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for the state.
Koyo USA Corp., the maker of Ma Ha Lo brand seawater, will be the first to carry the Hawai'i certification.
Koyo's water is pumped from the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority pipeline, which extends 2,000 feet below the surface of the ocean. The company, which ships 80,000 bottles of water to Japan each day, plans to triple capacity within a few months once it completes construction of a 75,000-square-foot facility in Kailua-Kona, said Hiroshi Usami, Koyo's director of construction.
Koyo isn't the only company dipping into Hawai'i seawater, said Jeff Smith, executive director of the Natural Energy Lab. The lab has five tenants with plans to sell deep-sea water, including Enzamin USA, which plans to start exporting in May. The tentative name for its product is Mana Hawaii.
Driving the boom is a Japanese thirst for deep-sea water that started about four years ago, said Yoshi Kikuchi, a manger with Eugene, Ore.-based Enzamin.
That demand is based on a variety of claims from some manufacturers concerning the health benefits of deep-sea water, much of which have yet to be proven by medical study. Koyo's Web site says Ma Ha Lo's attributes include its purity, healthy nutrient content and a pH balance that mimics human blood.
The water is high in mineral content and believed to be free of modern contaminants, Kikuchi said.
"Since it's in the deep sea it doesn't have any effects from air or water pollution," he said.
The deep-water certification program will help companies such as Koyo distinguish their seawater from Japan-produced seawater. Hawaiian seawater is considered of high quality and commands a high price. Small bottles of Hawaii Deep Marine Inc.'s Kona Nigari were on sale for $33.50 yesterday at the Key of Life store in the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center.
The marketing of Hawaiian seawater will likely prove to be a boon for the Natural Energy Lab, Smith said.
The state agency was established in the 1970s as a research facility for ocean thermal energy conversion and since has become a center for aquaculture research and production. The lab runs about $500,000 a year in the red, Smith said. That is expected to change during the next year in large part because of royalties from the certification program.
The fee for certification is expected to be about 3 cents a bottle, depending on size and volume, with a portion of that going to policing use of the logo. Based on that estimate, revenues from Koyo's current production could be in the range of $2,400 a day, or $876,000 a year.
Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8093.
