PETpla.net Insider 07+08 / 2011

REGIONAL MARKET REPORTS 10 PET planet insider Vol. 12 No. 07+08/11 www.petpla.net When, in 2008, the changeover took place from the highly robust PET refillable bottles to the lighter weight disposable bottles, the bottlers made their decision in favour of similarly robust yet disposable bottles. Weights for 0.5l bottles averaging 26g or an average of 43g for the 1.5l bottle are therefore the norm in Finland. Format changes need to be slick and all the bottlers are using the single section PCO 28. Cap weights of the bottles aver- aged around 2.9g. This weight matches the internationally determined mean weight for these caps. For the likes of Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola and their own brands the bot- tlers sometimes use the same preform weights. Generally speaking, suppliers of preforms to Finland are Putoksniks or Retal Europe, both from Lithuania. Logistics In addition to the large number of products that form part of the repertoire of every bottler, they also run a stor- age and retrieval operation, despatching a large propor- tion of their goods directly to the supermarket. So it is not difficult to amass up to 500 different products from cans to glass to PET for handling. Because labour costs are high in Finland, all breweries feature practically the same fully automatic storage facilities and storage retrieval/order pick- ing arrangements. The basis for this very high level of auto- mation is re-usable hard trays made from plastic which are here known as ”Displays“. For each type of drinks packaging there are special country-wide standardised displays that are loaded by robots directly at the end of the filling lines and collected on pallets (Fig. 1). In the case of PET bottles, there are 3 different types: one for the 0.5l bottle, one for the 1 litre and another for the 1.5l bottle. This fully automatic set-up leaves no room for any individuality. Fig. 2 shows, for example, how the cap on the overlying bottle supports the superimposed display pack. If the shorter PCO1881 cap were used instead of the PCO28, it would involve a radical re-design of the existing display pack. Nevertheless we heard time and time again that one or the other bottler was working on finding a solution to the problem. With around 500 million filled PET bottles in Finland it is not a difficult matter to quickly work out when the reorganisation has paid for itself. The two preform suppliers are already offer- ing the weight-optimised preforms for the short cap. Fig.1: At the end of the filling lines, robots collect the bottle trays. After that, the trays are collected on pallets. One possible way forward would be to introduce the 1881 for the (likewise) standard Sixpacks that are not supplied in displays. Against that, however, is the fact that up to 2/3rds of the bottles reach consumers via displays, so this solution would incur additional expenditure on set-up in the bottling plants. Nevertheless the consumer is already buying the 1881. The discount chain from Ger- many, Lidl, has a big presence in Finland. They market their own brands that are bottled in Finland, although Lidl also imports a large number of soft drinks into Finland from Germany. Here the extremely light weight bottles for which Lidl is well known are fitted with the optimised 1881 cap. Since Lidl, as is customary in international markets, offers the bottles heat sealed on to pallets without any displays, the lightweight cap can be used here without any problems. Fig.2: Tray supported by the bottle cap Beverages consumption It’s always the same, you ask three different market researchers a question and you get five different answers. We asked three respected organisations, Canadean, the Finnish Panimoliitto Federation and the Federal Statis- tics Office in Germany for reliable data about the Finnish market. Although the figures (see Table 1) are not 100% complete, they are sufficient for us to attempt a reasonably comprehensive market analysis. Table 1: Breakdown by type of beverage packed 2010 Overall consumption of beverages in Finland 2010 Source: Panimoliitto PETplanet estimates Federal Statistics Office Members Smaller fillers Lidl imports Total Litres per capita % in million litres Beer 395 0 0 395 76 39 Cider 31 0 0 31 6 3 Long drinks 41 10 0 51 10 5 CSD/Tea etc 263 100 34 397 76 39 Water 65 50 30 145 28 14 Total 795 160 64 1019 196 100 Total as per Canadean 1200