RomAqua, the producer of mineral water Borsec, will open a new PET bottling line worth DM10 million and a glass bottling line worth DM6 million by the end of March. "The value of total investments carried out so far is DM43-45 million and we are going to invest another DM100 million by 2005," Nicolae Palfi, RomAqua vice-president, told Ziarul Financiar.
The company registered 20 million dollars in turnover last year, up 40% against the previous year and forecasts 30 million dollars in turnover this year. Net profit was 48 billion lei in 2000, up 100% against 1999, when it stood at 21 billion lei.
"We expect the market to increase by 40% this year, as Romanian companies must meet EU demands to offer 2-4 litres of mineral water to their employees, when the temperature exceeds 37*C," Palfi said.
According to him, the Romanian market has had an interesting development evolution. Market growth amounted to 20-22% in 1998, 38% in 1999 and exceeded 40% in 2000.
Palfi expects the mineral water consumption to constantly increase amid the global warming process and the depreciation of the potable water quality.
The mineral water average consumption was 30 litres per inhabitant last year in Romania, while in Europe it stood at 180 litres annually, but the mineral water consumption is quite likely to increase in Romania. The 23-24 companies operating in the field of mineral water bottling can hardly supply an increasingly demanding market.
"We sold more than 7.5 million bottles of 1.5 litres last year, but the demand for Borsec mineral water was five times higher," the vice-president of RomAqua said.
Bosec had a market share of 26% in 2000, while Stanceni mineral water had 0.6% market share, the company's representatives say.
The Romanian market of mineral water stood at about 525 million litres last year, while the market of non-carbonated mineral water stood at 235 million litres. Borsec and Stanceni mineral waters market share was 18% against a total of 760 million litres.
RomAqua exports Borsec mineral water in 14 countries, among which the US (in three states), Canada, Austria, Cyprus, Belgium, Germany and the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Israel.
"We export only 2% of our output because we can hardly supply domestic demand for the time being, as we do not have a large bottling capacity. Exports are based on image reasons, so that people should know that we exist and that Borsec is a good mineral water," Palfi said.
"At the beginning, we used to have three glass bottling lines with a capacity of 65 million litres annually. We withdrew two of them as they were more than 30 years old," Palfi added.
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