PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2010

BOTTLING / FILLING 52 PET planet insider Vol. 11 No. 10/10 www.petpla.net Aseptics for private label juices The trend towards aseptic processes, rather than hot-fill of juices filled into PET containers has led French company Antartic SAS to install a second aseptic PET line, for the production of private label juices for the Intermarché super- market chain. Antartic commissioned its first PET-Asept line from Krones in 2005; the new line utilises the same technol- ogy but is one size larger. * Based on an article by Matthias Kreutz, Krones AG, Neutraubling Germany France’s Intermarché retailing chain is organised as a cooperative. Its business is made up of independ- ent retailers, who operate under a shared family brand so as to benefit from synergies in purchasing and marketing. There are approximately 1,800 autonomous Intermarché mar- kets in France; 200 in Portugal; 150 in Poland; and others in Belgium, Bosnia and Romania. Turnover in 2009 totalled €34 billion, with total market share having increased from 12.1 to 12.5% over the previous year. Growth came mainly from the food segment. Increased sales came from greater unit throughput, not just increased prices. In common with other retailers, Intermarché strengthened its range of inexpensive products by upgrading its own, private label brands. “Our target is to upsize the propor- tion of dealer’s brands in our sales mix from its current 38% to 40%,” said Antartic Director Manuel Machado’s firm conviction. This is in response to rising consumer demand for low-price, value products, which are increas- ingly served by private label offers. As Intermarché’s distinctive characteristic is its traditionally very high propor- tion of dealer’s brands, manufactured in-house, it could be expected to profit from this trend. Its own 60 facilities, which employ a total of 9,000 people, produce goods worth about €2.9 bil- lion. More than 90% of these are foods and beverages. It operates its own fishing fleet, processes meat, makes milk and cooking oil and a range of beverages. In the liquid-food segment alone, its facilities include an edible-oil producer, a dairy, two wine bottlers, two bottlers for carbonated mineral and spring waters, plus five bottlers for still waters. Water, juices, syrup and soft drinks One of Intermarché’s water bot- tlers is Antartic, which is located in the village of St. Martin D’Abbat. 20km east of Orléans, and two hours south of Paris by road. With a payroll of 235, Antartic is the only producer of juices, syrups and soft drinks in the Intermarché Group, accounting for 330 million fills a year. Its products are carried to the group’s logistic Antartic Director Manuel Machado: “Our goal is efficiency.”