PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2011

REGIONAL MARKET REPORTS 14 PET planet insider Vol. 12 No. 10/11 www.petpla.net Hand in hand Estonia has a population of just 1.3 million which means that the domestic bottlers need to be highly flexible if they are to succeed in a tight market. A le Coq in Tartu has successfully achieved the No. 1 spot in practically all bever- ages sectors. Here marketing and technology work hand in hand both to strengthen their core markets and to introduce new products on an on- going basis. A le Coq has won a 39% market share in the beer market and has been market leader since 2008. In the cider sector their market share has already climbed to 50 %. In the soft drinks sector A le Coq with just over 30%, still lies in second place behind Coca Cola who command a 44% share. But they are working hard to bring about changes here. Back in 2010 Coca Cola was forced to surrender a 5% share of the market to these resourceful brewers. This success story actually started in 1997 when the Finnish brewing group Olvi (see Finland report PETplanet insider issue 9/11, page 10)) took over the company (who were still known by the name of Tartu Brewery at that time). The Finns set out on the race to catch up, in the process transforming a company which still had a whiff of the “old regime” about it. In 2010 the Estonians produced 118 mil- lion litres of beverages, half of which were beer. Since 2004 the company have introduced the PET bottle for beer and as of that time 25% of beer volume has gone out in PET. In the non-beers sector, products are packaged almost exclusively in PET with the exception of a few juices that are despatched to the consumer in cartons. In order to ensure appropriate production capacity to accompany this growth, the company purchased a new PET bottling plant from KHS in 2007. This is practically identical to the plant that the parent company Olvi purchased at the same time. A small PET plant was pensioned off to make way for the new plant. Now this new installation is producing all seven different types of bottle and bottling more than 50 different beverages. In addition, there is a further small plant that is just used for bottling beer in PET. Based on these figures, it is not difficult to place the comments made by Tarmo Laht, Head Brewmaster. “ 40% of operational time is set-up time( time for changeover and cleaning). Setting up is a routine, every-day job“: he smiles with satisfaction as he delivers this statement. But it is not only technology that ensures that the company’s market share is constantly expanding; the Marketing Department, under the leadership of Katrin Vernik does not allow the competition a minute’s peace either. ”We are looking to launch 15 to 18 new products on the market each year, but we take great care not to neglect our core brands“. New products, however, not only mean a new taste and a differ- ent colour on the label; the highly elaborate labels deployed here are intended to attract attention on the shelves. The glass line has just installed a high-flexibility labelling device from Krones. And going back to Tarmo: “All the ideas that we get from Marketing are feasible; all we need to clarify is just how much they are going to cost“. But this is a point on which Katrin and Tarmo are in agreement: if it’s good for the market, they will work hand in hand at putting it into practice. www.alecoq.ee Now with Lithuania part of the EU, the company can supply preforms without incurring duties. This means in turn that the company’s customer base inside the EU has grown, in this case mainly in the Baltic countries, Finland, Scandinaviaand Germany. The 2009 economic crisis mainly affected the eastern European states, and “Putokšnis”found the market for its preforms diminishing. This may have been a blessing in disguise as the proprietor did not need to get other inves- tors on board during this time. In the interim production has once again come up to the level of the pre-crisis period and the company is looking optimistically to the future.They have now acquired a PCO 1881 mould to enable them to compete as a major player in this field. The company had its origins in the blow moulding of bottles in dual and starting from 2007 single stage, and they have never relinquished this branch. This means that they can expand their knowledge of the correct stretch blow moulding techniques on their own machines on an everyday basis. “We pass our knowledge on to our preform custom- ers by advising them on their own stretch blow moulding processes“ says Edmundas Jakas. A further production facility has now been established in the Ukraine. “The eastern European sales market that does not lie within the EU has collapsed completely as far as we are concerned. The bureaucratic hurdles of delivering beyond the borders of the EU are quite simply too high. This was the reason for our decision to purchase a former per- form works in the Ukraine. Here we have built up everything again from nothing“ said Simona Stulpinaite. www.putoksnis.lt A le Coq We met: Tarmo Laht, Head Brewmaster Katrin Vernik, Marketing Manager Right: Katrin Vernik, Marketing; centre Tarmo Laht, left: Alexander Büchler