PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2010

REGIONAL MARKET REPORTS 14 PET planet insider Vol. 11 No. 03/10 www.petpla.net is looking forward to adding such a preform manufactur- ing system very soon. Besides CSDs, he targets beer and ketchup with multilayer preforms. All in all, at the end of 2010, Medco will have a capacity of 750 million preforms. This, in addition to the fact that a new Medco Plast PET preform plant was commissioned in 2009. The preform market is growing so quickly that his company that makes beverage crates for glass bottles is helping out. Where he supplied 1.6 million crates four years ago, that figure fell to 0.8 million in 2009. “I can’t describe more graphically the switch from glass to PET,” was how he summed up the PET situation in the Egyptian CSD market. He plans to meet the growing market with the help of Husky. For Mr. Samaha it is quite clear that he wants preform systems from just one supplier. The advantages for him are a standard operating system, and so easier opera- tion, servicing and parts stocking. The new system to be delivered in April will have a 96-cavity tool with a PCO 1881 neck finish. www.medcoplast.com Juhayna From left to right: Nabil Skaria (General Manager), Alexander Büchler and Ahmed A. L. Al-Hakeem (Supply Chain Director) with the Juhayna logo in the background. As the general manager of Tiba for trade and distribu- tion, the commercial arm of the Juhayna Group (Egypt’s leader in the premium juice and dairy products categories) Nabil Skaria and his team carry out Juhayna’s strategy of seeking growth through new product introductions as well as driving growth via expansion of the existing portfolio. In the juice market Juhayna is mainly involved in the carton juices sector, where the company holds about a 39% market share, equivalent to 45 million litres of juice drinks, nectars and pure juices. In this sector the company has recently established a new plant equipped with SIG Com- bibloc lines. Juhayna also continues to use Tetra Pak for some juices and all of the milk portfolio. Unlike water and CSDs, the juice market is not so sensitive to the weather. Seasonal variations stay within reasonable limits. But carton packs account for only 40% of the 220 mil- lion litre juice market. About 30% is packaged in bottles (mainly glass, but with some PET) and the remaining 30% in pouches, sold mostly as a lower priced beverage. Juhayna has so far not ventured into these two fields, and as a premium supplier the company wants first to tackle the bottled juice market. To this end Juhayna was the first in Egypt to invest in a complete hot fill line for PET bot- tles, and the first 0.25 litre bottles have been on the market since November 2009. The bottle comes in at a solid 26 grams, which appears at the high end of the weight range but conveys the quality package image with good integrity. It is thermally stabilised to withstand the hot filling tempera- ture of 85°C, which guarantees the safety and hygiene of the product throughout its shelf life without the need for chemicals or preservatives – overall professionally done. The brand (“TinGo”) covers a range of fruit juice drinks with 10% juice, water, sugar and some other ingredients. Five different flavours are available, the most popular being mango, followed by apple, guava, cocktail, and orange. The price for these products is set at 1.75 Egyptian pounds - the same price per pack as the carton, but with a lower cost per ml (since the cartons are 200ml in size). However, nectars contain between 25% and 50% fruit juice, which justifies the higher price. Nabil Skaria does not believe that the market is ready yet for aseptic filling in PET, which is why he has invested in hot filling. Juhayna’s main aim is to become as strong in the bottled juice sector as it is in car- tons, which means, based on 50 million litres and an aver- age pack size of 0.25 litres, 200 million PET bottles. www.juhayna.com Bericap Egypt Tarek Sultan, General Manager of Bericap Egypt (on the right) explains to Alexander Büchler Bericap Egypt’s range - going from special purpose industrial caps through CSD and water caps to caps for edible oil. For Bericap their production facility in Egypt is the gate- way to Africa and the Gulf States. “It is among the fastest- growing business in the Bericap group,” explained the Gen- eral Manager of Bericap Egypt, Tarek Sultan, proudly, 70% of the 1.7 billion caps are exported to 84 clients. Only 30% remain in Egypt and are supplied to 64 clients. When the facility started production in April 2005 the rapid growth was unforeseeable, so now all of the production halls are bursting at the seams. The main hall, now with 37 injection moulding machines is full; the canteen has been moved to an addi- tional floor built onto the existing office block; in the ware- house additional finishing operations are now carried out and there is a tooling workshop; on the whole site there is now only room for the essential supplies and materials required for production. The actual warehouse is 800m down the road. This situation will be improved dramatically in end of 2011 when the new factory - three times bigger - is finished. At the moment the foundations and the walls are starting to appear.