“Mineral water consumption was about 50% of the total in the summer months, that is June-August,” said Adrian Feru, the research and development manager of the National Company of Mineral Waters (SNAM). Feru said the annual consumption calculated based on the first eight months’ production stands at about 65 liters per capita.
According to researcher Canadean data, the volume of bottled water sales was 606.5 liters in the first half and 1,395.2 million liters in 2011, the same as in 2010.
After the hot summer, the largest companies on the mineral water market remained optimistic about the sales trend until the end of the year.
“The mineral water market will increase slightly by yearend, a trend we estimate will maintain in the next two or three years,” said the representatives of Romaqua Group, the largest competitor on this market.
The company estimates the market stands at EUR350 million, and according to the data supplied, its brands (Borsec, Aquatique and Stanceni) account for more than 27% of the total bottled water market.
Razvan Iancau, Rio Bucovina general manager, too, sees growth.
“We expect a slight growth of the market by 3% to 5% this year, and the longer term potential is high, because of the improvement in the living standards and the access to information (…).”
Dietrich Szilard, deputy general manager of Perla Harghitei, another major competitor on the mineral water market, believes water consumption will continue to increase. This is especially true for the consumption of water bottled in large containers, because of the higher interest in saving money among consumers and companies.
Rio Bucovina’s Razvan Iancau said the sales of his company went up on all water types it bottles. He added Rio Bucovina’s share of Bucharest’s still water market stood at 22.5% in volume.
On the other hand, Romaqua officials say their sales of natural mineral water went up by 14% for both sparking and still water.
Still water won the battle with the sparkling mineral water this year, and got to a 60% market share.
According to the data provided by market research company Nielsen, the top five producers on the market by value and volume are Romaqua Group, Coca-Cola, private labels, Rio Bucovina and European Drinks-Food. The market share of the five was 58.8% in August 2011-July 2012, Nielsen data show.
The top five brands by volume are Borsec (Romaqua), private labels, Izvorul Alb (Coca-Cola), Bucovina (Rio Bucovina) and Calipso, according to the same source. The five brands’ market share in volume was 47.9% during the same period.
“Rio Bucovina reported a 9.1% share of the total bottled water production in Romania by volume in April-May 2012,” said Iancu, citing the Retail Audit survey.
The highest sales were made in hypermarkets and supermarkets, 61% of the total, according to Nielsen data, followed by smaller stores (21 to 40 square meters in retail space), 16%.
Lowest sales are those in gas stations and street stands, 1.9% and 1.1% in volume.
Other companies on the bottled water market are Perla Harghitei, which posted 67 million lei (EUR15 million) revenue in 2011, Bihor Mineral Water, part of the United Romanian Breweries group, Azuga Apa de Izvor (Azuga Spring Water) and vendors of water for water coolers such as La Fantana and Cumpana.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)