Ceepackaging

Analysis

Cross over to PET helps boost drinks sales

Parmalat Romania saw its sales advance by 300% on the still drinks segment in the first 9 months of this year on last year, after it added PET-packaged Santal juices to its portfolio over the last year and a half.

“For ice tea, Santal posted a 241% increase during this period, after we launched the PET alternative,”

At the end of l2006 Parmalat replaced cardboard packaging with PET for still drinks. On the market, PET packaging is preferred over cardboard packaging due to the smaller costs incurred by bottlers.

Last summer’s hot weather also aided the higher-than-expected growth witnessed by Santal TOP (still drink) and the rising weight of ice tea, to almost 8% of Parmalat domestic sales. “This year, the still drinks segment was bolstered by high temperatures in the summer. As a rule, December is the most important month for us, however in 2007, July and August brought us sales double the monthly average,” explains the manager.

Overall, the company’s sales increased by 50% in terms of volume and by around 30% in terms of value in the first 9 months of 2007 against the same time last year, according to Parmalat data.

Romania’s integration into EU aided because of the lower costs of raw materials. “Shipping, energy costs and wages increased instead, but not above the projected levels (…), said Manzonetto. Domestically, Santal is the leader of the 100% juice segment and ranks third on the nectar segment in terms of market share. This year, the Italian group took over 19.7% in Parmalat Romania stock from EBRD for 2.1m euros, and raised its stake in the Romanian division to 93.1%.