PepsiCo’s new €150m production plant will “threaten Coca-Cola HBC Romania’s supremacy in the local soft drinks market, especially as the latter continues to move manufacturing out of the country”, says the ‘Romania Food and Drink Report’.
On the other hand, Romania’s alcoholic beverages industry has recorded some negative developments. Flagging beer sales have led Belgian brewing behemoth Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) to sell its CEE operations, including Romania, to CVC Capital Partners. Additionally, the brewer is to temporarily suspend production at its Blaj bottling plant from 1 October 2009 to end-March 2010. The company has stated that the decision was taken to optimise the supply-demand ratio, avoid permanent layoffs and maintain a competitive edge amid the ongoing economic slowdown which has led to a drop in beer sales on a regional scale.
In BMI’s Food and Drink Business Environment Ratings (BER) table for Q110, Romania places ninth out of the 15 key markets surveyed in the emerging Europe region, which now includes Turkey. Economic difficulties will conspire to pose challenges to the development of Romania’s food consumption volumes, especially as the country’s GDP trails that of its more developed Central and Eastern European (CEE) peers, and given the latest political turmoil and the collapse of coalition government.
Additionally, the country’s food and drinks market will continue to be shaped by low per capita incomes and the fact that large sections of rural population that have few opportunities for modern shopping in mass grocery retail (MGR) outlets, although this is changing ,with the expansion of pan-European operators, such as Carrefour, both organically and through acquisition of local companies.
Source: Research and Markets
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024