PETpla.net Insider 07+08 / 2010

REGIONAL MARKET REPORTS 14 PET planet insider Vol. 11 No. 07+08/10 www.petpla.net According to the company, there is basically no differ- ence in consumer behaviour and consumption of fish and soy sauce between the cities and rural areas, i.e. the same sizes of bottles are supplied (which is often not the case for beverages and edible oil). This is simply due to the fact that the price level of the soy and fish sauce is affordable - and loved by the Vietnamese consumers. www.masanfood.com URC Vietnam: “C2 - Cool & Clean” is the formula Gianfranfo Perrici of Sipa (see picture) opened the doors to URC Vietnam where M. Maruschke met Mr. Vikas J. Rai , Man- ufacturing Director.( Inside the company, we were not allowed to take pictures). URC Vietnam Co., Ltd started in Vietnam with the manufacturing of candies and snacks in the year 2005. One year later the company ventured into beverages ini- tially with RTD traditional Vietnamese teas such as green, lotus and jasmine teas. Soon teas with additional flavours, such as lemon, apple, forest fruits and peach were added. Today the company employs 400 people. The focus is on health drinks with no preservatives. High efficiency and low reject rate URC produces 360 ml bottles on single-stage machines and are then hot-filled with a range of teas. The closures are imported from the parent company in the Philippines. Today the company employs five high-capac- ity single-stage machines from Sipa, with the latest being rated at 24,000bph. The factory is running at full capacity 24/7, and yet, in order to meet demand, teas still have to be imported from the sister company in Indonesia. During our visit the control panel of the Sipa machine showed that the machines had been running at 95% effi- ciency and with less than a 1% rejection rate over the last few days and weeks, which was also confirmed by the Manufacturing Director, Mr. Vikas J. Rai One of the lines with similar capacity is now being installed in Thach That near Hanoi in order to supply the Northern part of Vietnam. According to Mr. Vikas J. Rai, there are several rea- sons to choose single-stage machines: no thermal crystallization of the neck is necessary  energy savings  higher level of hygiene  possibility of getting better efficiency in bottle weight  (for hot-fill applications) The point about hygiene is particularly easy to com- prehend: the URC facility is one of the cleanest and best- organised operations that we visited during our Vietnam trip. High share in the tea market According to the company, URC has a market share of 35% in the field of tea in Vietnam, and an even slightly higher share of 40% in HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City) itself. In HCMC the company, with its popular “C2 - Cool & Clean” drink, has even a higher market share in tea than the local beverage giant, the THP Group. Their most popular drink is the “C2 - Cool & Clean” lemon tea. There are basically no real high and low seasons for the company. They run at full capacity almost the whole year, with only a slight dip in July/August due to school holidays. Obviously the high market share is supported by a young group of consumers in line with the young image of the company and its products. Pushcart loaded with lightweight PET bottles Regional market report France ISSUE 9/2010