Biborteni producer enters low-price segment

The producer of Biborteni mineral water is tackling the low-price segment of the mineral water market with Valea Brazilor, by bringing back in service some unused assets of the plant in Covasna county.
The hot weather boosted sales of Bibco Biborteni company by 40% in the past month compared with the previous period and by some 20% against last May.
The producer of Biborteni mineral water expects sales to go beyond 52 million litres this year, of which 12 million litres on the segment of juices.
The company last year sold 31.5 million litres of mineral water and 7.5 million litres of juice, less than the volume registered in 2005, of 34 million litres of water and 9 million litres of juice.
“Overall, 2006 was a slow year for the soft drinks industry because of the rains. In several counties we could not distribute products as infrastructure had been destroyed by the floods. However, all the signals tell us we are going to exceed sales volumes of 2005 this year, but we review our estimates every three months,” states Simion.
The producer estimates sales will advance by 25-30% this year against 2006, given that three new products were added to the range of sparkling mineral water: Biborteni Forte, Echlibrata and Lejera.
The company late last year launched a mineral water under a new brand, Valea Brazilor, positioned on the value-for-money price segment.
“Valea Brazilor is a product for families, positioned on the low-price segment, and practically fills a gap in the mineral water portfolio. By switching from 2-litre bottles to 1.5 litre bottles a year ago we gained more young consumers, with higher incomes, appreciating the image of a product. Instead, we lost the category of people who drink a lot of mineral water, but are not willing to pay too much, and we want to regain this category with the help of Valea Brazilor,” explains Simion.
Bibco Biborteni has a 2.5m-euro budget for 2007 for the promotion of the products launched in the past six months on several media. The respective products also include Limo bottled lemonade, which entailed production investment worth almost half a million euros.