Consumption rose by 15% this summer alone compared the summer of 2010.
“The summer was aggressive this year in terms of pricing, promotions and also much more intense because the fight over market share became fierce. (…) We estimate the market will grow in 2012, especially in value, because all bottled water producers will feel the need to communicate,” Hoinarescu said.
The company, which posted 85 million lei (EUR19.66 million) sales in 2010, an increase of about 4%, owns several brands, such as: Bucovina (sparkling and mineral water), La Vitta (table water), Rio, La Vitta, Malibu, Bon Ton (carbonated soft drinks), La Vitta (foods), Golden Horse (energy drink). Rio-Bucovina is also the Romanian distributor for the Zara (pasta) and Becker’s Bester (natural fruit juice) brands.
Rio-Bucovina has a plant in Vatra Dornei that bottles Bucovina and another one in Timisoara, which bottles carbonated soft drinks, table and tonic water.
The water market amounts to about 11.3 million hectoliters, according to the information provided by Rio-Bucovina, which means some RON1.35 billion (EUR0.31 billion).
Rio-Bucovina ranks third on the water market (both as producer and as brand) and its market share stood at 6.7% in June and July 2011, compared with 5.5% in the same months of 2010, according to the information provided.
It entered the energy drinks market this May, when it launched the Golden Horse brand. Camelia Hoinarescu says sales are going as planned.
Nine months into the year, the company is performing as expected, having already made about 70% of the annual sales target, according to preliminary estimates, considering data on September sales are not yet final.
The sole shareholder of Rio-Bucovina SRL is Syrian businessman Khatab Ahmad, but information published in the Official Journal shows him to have transferred all his shares to Bulgaria-based Emparador OOD and to have withdrawn from the company. There is no information available on the Bulgarian business.
“We did intend to go through with this deal with Emparador in Bulgaria. The deal did not materialize and Rio-Bucovina management decided to explore more closely the potential of neighboring markets such as Turkey, Serbia, Bulgaria etc.,” Camelia Hoinarescu said.
She added that Rio-Bucovina might decide in the future to sign a commercial partnership with Emparador to test the potential of the Bulgarian mineral or table water market.
The company currently exports to Moldova via a partnership signed with a wholesaler in that country.
Mineral water is one of the few segments of the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) market that is still dominated by Romanian companies through such brands as Borsec (owned by Romaqua) and Izvorul Minunilor (European Drinks), but is becoming increasingly more crowded once new brands are launched.
(EUR1=RON4.3233)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)