“In the first nine months of 2008 the sales growth rate was below the level estimated at the beginning of the year. The year 2007 was an exceptional one for the sparkling water and soft drink field, especially due to long heat waves during the summer. However, this year’s summer was not as hot as we expected,” Istvan Puskas, the company’s Marketing Manager, told Business Standard. He added that the average temperature in the January-October 2008 period was 1.8°C lower year-on-year, which led to an 8 percent drop in consumption. Moreover, the average temperature in June 2008 was 4°C lower than in June 2007.
“Sales were below expectations. Unfortunately, the returnable bottle sparkling water market continues to decrease, which affects us significantly, as Perla Harghitei is the most important player on this segment,” Puskas said.
The domestic soft drink market (which includes the sparkling water segment) reached €900 mln in terms of value and some 3 billion liters in volume in 2007, according to data provided by players on the market. This year, the value of this market was estimated at €1 bln. Major sparkling water providers are Romaqua Group, Bibco Biborteni, Pepsi Americas, Dorna Apemin (owned by Coca-Cola), Perla Harghitei, and Rio Bucovina.
