From 0 to 100 -Two Saudi water brands take off
Two water brands are virtually omnipresent in Saudi Arabia: Oska and Ival. The company behind them is Pure Beverages Industry Company, which bottles the brands in two production facilities. One of these bottling plants is located in Al-Kharj Industrial City, around 130 km south of Riyadh, near the town of Al Kharj. And although you can’t go past almost any supermarket today without coming across the water brands, the company is still very young and the brands have only been on the shelves since 2021. We asked what has led to this rapid success and met with Mr Shibin Kungaran, the Plant Manager at the Al-Kharj plant.
Meeting with Pure Beverages Industry Company
February 28, 2024
We met: Mr Shibin Kungaran, Plant Manager Al Kharj Plant
Mr Shibin Kungaran welcomed us into the beautiful foyer of the bottling plant, where there is a showroom shelf displaying the various bottle formats and materials, PET and glass, and a large flat screen providing information about the production of Oska and Ival with insights into the bottling process. Shortly afterwards, we sat in a bright and very open-looking office with glass walls opposite the man who ensures that the production process runs smoothly. Mr Kungaran comes from India, holds a master’s degree in microbiology and has already worked there for a water bottler, as well as seven years for Coca-Cola Aujan in Saudi Arabia. He has been part of the team here for two years, basically since the plant was built, first as Plant Supervisor, then as Production Manager and in his current position since December 2023.
Pure Beverages is part of the investment company Ajlan & Bros Group, which conceived the idea of bottling water in 2017 and began building the first plant in 2019. Mr Kungaran explained: “Here in Al-Kharj, we went live in 2021, starting with two lines and then adding a third, all PET lines. In our other plant in Jeddah, which we launched in 2022, we fill with two PET lines and an additional glass line for premium hotel and catering areas. We chose Krones as our supplier for both plants because we believe they offer the best service.”
The total of five PET lines at both sites consist of four Ergobloc L and one Contiform Bloc. The glass line in Jeddah is also from Krones, as are the water treatment systems. “Here at the plant, we process around 700,000 m3 of water a year. That corresponds to around 30 million cases with 40 bottles each in 2023. 420,000 m3 of water is used in Jeddah and we had 23.5 million cases there in 2023. Oska and Ival are bottled in volumes of 200 ml, 330 ml, 600 ml and 1.5 l. “The so-called drop bottle with 200 ml also exists,” says Mr Kungaran. As the company does not have its own wells, the water comes from five different suppliers who extract it from wells and the municipal water supply and deliver it pre-treated to Pure Beverages. The company’s growth since it was founded has been remarkable. It started with 1.6 million cases in 2021, rising to 21 million in Riyadh in 2022 and 29.9 million together with the recently launched Jeddah plant. “We expect 83 million cases in 2024, 46 million of which will be here in Riyadh.” According to the company, this puts it among the top four water bottlers in the country, alongside Nova Water, Safa (Makkah Water) and Aquafina (Coca-Cola). 92 people are currently employed at the Al-Kharj site.
