Viorel Micula, chairman of the European Drinks group, the bottler of mineral water Izvorul Minunilor, says the company's sales on foreign markets increased by 46% in the first half of this year - at an over 15% higher rate compared with the domestic market's level.
This year, the producer started exporting soft drinks to Jordan, Italy, Ireland and Spain. "'Izvorul Minunilor' mineral and still water are the products most in demand for export," explained Viorel Micula.
In the first six months of the year, the company saw a slower growth on the domestic market compared with foreign markets, with sales of European Drinks soft drinks seeing an overall increase of almost 30%. "So far, the trend of sales on the domestic market is a rising one, of around 25-30%," added Micula.
The bottler of Izvorul Minunilor invested over 25 million euros last year in order to increase mineral water production capacities and to launch a new product on the market segment - Hera water.
The company increased its bottling capacity for mineral water and soft drinks by 162,000 litres per hour, by setting up three production lines purchased from Germany.
The investments in new production capacities targeted both the domestic market and a rise in exports.
European Drinks estimates it will see the production of over 150 million litres of bottled mineral water this year. The producer bottled around 130 million litres of mineral water last year, according to data from the SNAM (National Company of Mineral Waters), with two water sources under exploitation, in Stana de Vale and in Rieni (Bihor county).
In June, mineral water bottlers holding licences from the National Company of Mineral Waters, which includes the biggest players on this market segment, bottled a total of 120 million litres of water, with 130 million litres being forecast for July, according to SNAM estimates.
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