Water bottlers struggle to attain 2007 sales peak

After a milder-than-usual summer, the mineral water market increased just 11% in terms of volume in the first seven months of the year against the same time last year, half of the water bottlers? forecast. According to data from the National Mineral Waters Company, the volume of bottled water amounted to 700 million litres, around 11% more than in the same period last year. “After water bottlers? sales exploded last summer, which boosted volumes by up to 80%, this year producers expect much lower growth rates. The beginning of the summer brought a reconsideration of sales forecasts for many companies, which had predicted an around 20% growth rate in May. At the end of last year, we targeted 19 million-euro turnover for 2008, but, 7 months into the year, our forecasts point to a 20% lower turnover”, says Puskas Istvan, marketing manager of Perla Harghitei water bottler.