Cuba Beverage, a California-based manufacturer and innovator of a line of herbal and all-natural energy beverages, has signed a distribution deal with Hom’s Enterprise to make its Cuba Herbal Energy Juice available in China.

Developed four years ago, Cuba Herbal Energy Juice is the first ready-to-drink beverage by the company that offers a healthy, natural alternative to conventional energy drinks.

The juice is available in Pomegranate-Cranberry, Wild Berry and Passion Fruit-Orange flavors.

A recent consumer behavior research done by Mintel, an authority on the global beverage industry, shows that seven out of ten (72%) Chinese consumers try to avoid drinks with artificial ingredients and 75% want to buy drinks with natural ingredients.

Based on the report, Hom’s Enterprise expects to sell as many as 20,000 cases of Cuba products in China in 2012, which would add $360,000 in sales to the company in 2012.

Hom’s Enterprise owner Benny Hom said they expect to sell about 20,000 cases of Cuba Herbal Energy Juice by the end of 2012, and are already looking to ramp up their orders for 2013.

Cuba Beverage CEO Alex Procopio said their product fills a large void left by ‘big cola’ manufacturers and those international energy drink companies whose harmful additives have caused delays and/or a ban of selling their products in China.

"Hom’s Enterprise’s strong credentials and distribution presence in China provides us with first-mover advantage to meet the emerging trends of a more health-conscious Chinese consumer," Procopio said.

"With Cuba Beverage, our distributors are assured that our product never has, or will contain, harmful additives or artificial stimulants – it is 100% natural."

Hom’s Enterprise joins Cuba Beverage’s list of national and global distributors including 5Star Beverage of Southern California, APSCO and the Army & Air Force Exchange Service.

The company also plans to start a direct-to-consumer online sales channel in the summer of 2012.