There was no recovery this autumn in sales of mineral water, after a cool summer in which consumption dropped by 15%. In the first nine months of the year, the market shrank by almost 8%, in comparison with the same period last year.
“September was not as favourable as we had expected. The volume of bottled water did not exceed 70 million litres. In the first three quarters this year, bottled water sales came to 661 million litres, compared with 716 million litres for the same period last year,” said Peter Elek, chairman of Societatea Nationala a Apelor Minerale, the National Mineral Water Company (SNAM).
SNAM statistical data, which cover about 95% of the mineral water bottling industry, showed a 6% increase in sales volume last year, up to 900 million litres.
For this year, Elek will at most rely on a stagnation in total sales of bottled water.
The mineral water market is worth more than 250 million euros a year, which is half the entire Romanian soft drinks market.
The main players on the market are Coca-Cola HBC Romania (Dorna), European Drinks (Izvorul Minunilor) and Romaqua (Borsec).
Elek also explained that mineral water consumption has also been hit by the many brands of drinking water on the market. Under current regulations, drinking water need only meet the condition of being drinkable, and drinking water prices are therefore much lower than mineral water prices.
Another tendency observed in the first three quarters of this year was the increase in carbonated water sales.
georgiana.stavarache@zf.ro