The hot summer ahead is making soft drink vendors think sales are going to surge this summer.
Catalin Lascu, PepsiCo Beverage International's franchise manager for Romania, Bulgaria and the Republic of Moldova said he estimated the sales on the soft drinks market to be higher than the usual average this year.
"The latest growth estimate for the entire carbonated soft drinks market for 2003 is 10%, compared with the last year, which is a great deal above the usual average," Lascu said.
Analysts estimate the carbonated soft drinks market to be worth approximately $200 million.
Andrew Cowell, Coca-Cola Romania country manager, says it is too soon to be talking about market growth, though. "We cannot discuss the sales trend this summer yet, as the summer is still young. Anyway, the trend is positive indeed, and summer has always been a good time for our business," Cowell said. Expectations of dog days have made the companies in this industry engage in a product release competition. PepsiCo has just released the Mountain Dew (MD) brand on the Romanian market, a product sold on the US market ever since the '40s. MD is produced and distributed by PepsiCo's Romanian partner, Quadrant Amroq Beverages. The new product is sold in 0.33l non-returnable bottles, as well as PET bottled (0.5l and 1l). Recommended product price varies from 16,000 ROL to 23,000 ROL per bottle.
Coca-Cola in its turn has launched five new products on the Romanian market since the beginning of the year. The latest of the five products is the apple-flavoured Fanta.
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