Perla Harghitei producer of mineral water and soft drinks plans to boost its sales volume by 15% this year and also enter the market of non-carbonated juices.
"This is the first year when the advertisement budget has gone beyond 1 million euros (...)," stated Puskas Istvan, marketing manager with Perla Harghitei.
Last year, the company generated a turnover worth 11.5 million euros, up around 20% against 2005, according to the data provided by Perla Harghitei. In 2006, the company bottled a total volume of 75 million litres of mineral water and opened its fifth production line at the plant of Sancraieni (Harghita), in order to enter the water cooler segment of the market with the Cristalina mineral water product. This year, Perla Harghitei plans to further develop the Cristalina brand by expanding distribution through firms specialising in this segment of the market.
Last year, Perla Harghitei launched mineral water in 0.33 and 0.75 litre bottles, for the hotel-restaurant-catering customers. "In 2007, we intend to develop this new product, attempting to offset the downward trend of mineral water bottled in the traditional 1 litre returnable bottles," specified Istvan.
Perla Harghitei also operates on the segment of carbonated soft drinks with Allegria and plans to expand its portfolio by launching some new products. "This year, we shall also enter the market of still drinks," added Istvan.
Perla Harghitei was set up in 1990 and was privatised four years later. In 1999, the Apemin Tusnad section was separated from Perla Harghitei, a company that remains a shareholder in Apemin Tusnad. At present, the company is exclusively held by individual shareholders.
Currently, the biggest competitors on the mineral water market, estimated at 1.1 billion litres and over 300 million euros, are Romaqua, European Drinks, Coca-Cola HBC and Perla Harghitei. All of these also include mineral water-based soft drinks within their product range.
Romanian mineral water consumption almost equals fruit juice consumption and is still far from the European average, indicating a high growth potential for the market in the long run. In the more developed countries of Western Europe, consumption is as high as 200 litres per capita, a figure four times higher than the Romanian average.
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