Coca-Cola re-enters coffee market

Coca-Cola HBC Romania, the largest player on the soft drinks market, will launch the illy ready-to-drink coffee this month, after it gave up the distribution of Nescafe Xpress. Coca-Cola has recently completed an international joint venture agreement with illy’s Italian-based coffee producer Ilko Coffee International, and is preparing the launch of premium ready-to-drink coffee in ten European countries. According to a release by the Coca-Cola Company, these launches will take place in April. Representatives of Coca-Cola HBC Romania confirmed for ZF that Romania is one of the ten countries targeted by Ilko Coffee International, without giving any further details. To start with, three varieties of ready-to-drink instant coffee illy will be launched on the market, in 150 and 200-millilitre aluminium cans. At the beginning of this month, Coca-Cola HBC Romania gave up distribution of ready-to-drink brand Nescafe Xpress, a product launched on the local market in 2007, through an international partnership with Nestle. Nescafe Xpress has recently entered the portfolio of Nestle Romania, a company that owns the No. 1 brand on the segment of instant coffee, Nescafe.