Peter Pfanner: Time to be more aggressive

Peter Pfanner, owner of Pfanner natural juice producer, says he will make the promotion strategy more aggressive after integration, which will drive the company into the black.
Austrian-held Pfanner group and the distributor of its products on the domestic market, Cyrom Romania are preparing a more aggressive promotion campaign that will be launched next year.
“Following Romania’s EU integration, we will proceed to the aggressive promotion stage since we see a great potential on this market. The average annual consumption of natural juices, nectars and ice teas is of only 4 litres per capita, way below the average of the EU market,” states Peter Pfanner.
Whereas the company’s strategy has so far centred on the promotion of products in outlets, starting next year Pfanner will invest in advertising through several media channels, in parallel with distribution expansion.
“We aim to boost numerical distribution, particularly in terms of traditional trade,” specified Peter Pfanner.
He also says the Romanian market has not been highly profitable for Pfanner group over recent years because the group has focused on maintaining prices at a relatively constant level, targeting a bigger market share.
“We have a long-term interest here and this is why we agreed to make sales growth, and not profitability, our top priority. We believe, though, that integration will also make it possible for us to derive profitability matching our expectations. We estimate we to turn a profit after 2008,” states Peter Pfanner.
Among the 70 countries it operates in, Pfanner is witnessing the fastest growth pace of sales the Romanian market, which proves the potential of the market, based on consumers’ rising incomes. “We forecast growth by 80% for this year,” Peter Pfanner also says.
Pfanner product sales in Romania last year surged by 100%, going beyond 4 million euros.
“Our medium-term sales target in Romania is 22 million litres of natural juices, nectars and ice tea,” adds Pfanner.
The prices of Pfanner products are 10% higher on the average in Romania compared to Austria, wherefrom they are imported.
“The immediate advantage related to Romania’s EU integration is the fact that we will compete with domestic producers on equal footing. On the other hand, the accession will lead to the need to increase the volume of investments, once competition gets tougher,” considers Pfanner. Customs duties for imports of natural juices range between 0% and 100%, depending on concentration and content. For nectar juices, import taxes stand at 10% on the average.
Pfanner company, set up 150 years ago in Austria, is a family business. The company entered the Romanian market 10 years ago and currently sells Pfanner-branded natural juice, nectar and ice tea through Cyrom Romania distributor.