PETpla.net Insider 01+02 / 2012

REGIONAL MARKET REPORTS 16 PET planet insider Vol. 13 No. 01+02/12 www.petpla.net enjoyed success due to low price and excellent distribution. Premia and other private label products are forecast to expand production in the coming years in Serbian bottled water. After two difficult years of decreasing volumes, stagna- tion in terms of new product launches and a period of unit price decrease, 2011 is expected to bring a recovery to the Serbian bottled water market. Having shifted downmarket during this period, consumers are expected to gradually return to their favourite brands and this should help the unit price move upward again. However, caution is needed: prices are unlikely to rise as rapidly as before the crisis, since increasing competition in the sector may see a reduc- tion in profit margins for producers. Source: Euromonitor Borverk Eurotrade We met: Predrag Radovančević Predrag Radovančević in front of his Netstal line A family firm 65km to the south of Belgrade lies the family-run firm Borverk Eurotrade. The company processes just under 12,000t of PET into standard preforms for the Serbian and neighbourhood markets. This represents slightly more than 25% of the overall market. Launched in 1997, the company today works on five Netstal lines with 48 and 72 cavities and a Krauss Maffei line with a 96-compartment mould. Director Predrag Radovančević manages the com- pany. His wife, father, sisters and, naturally, his brother- in-law are closely involved and together they ensure that the lines never come to a standstill. “We developed fast in the first 10 years, while in the last couple of years we have been strategically planning for the future. These days margins are so narrow that we need to make highly precise calculations“ explains Predrag. The fact that they are not yet on the breadline is demonstrated by their consistent zeal for new investment. The new warehouse has just been completed; it won’t be long now before the new office building is also finished. New standard “Global packaging and packaging materials, BRCiOP ver.4” is being implemented. Perhaps it is typical for a family firm to tend to err on the side of caution. “What good to us are customers who don’t pay their bills?“ says Predrag and as a result he would rather forgo a contract than forgo the money. He intends to use this strategy to tide him nicely over the coming year – no expansion for the sake of expansion. As regards 2012 production, he envisages a resur- gence of the 600 million preforms that he also produced in 2011. Out of these 65 % is channelled into the CSD and water market, 3 % into beer, 5 % into edible oil, 22% into milk and dairy produce and 5% into others. www.borv erk.rs Knjaz Miloš We met: Mrs. Zorica Vukčević Kljajić, COO Milan Vujović, Marketing Director Goran Savović Production Manager The gradual installation of the 1881 will commence at the start of 2012, says Zorica Vukčević Kljajić, COO 200 years young In 2011 Knjaz Miloš celebrates the bi-centenary of its founding. Ranking as one of the largest bottling enterprises, this company, which supplies water from the spring, boasts a market share of 37% carbonated water, 20% still water as well as a 60% share of the market for energy drinks in Serbia. It features ten bottling lines for mainly glass and PET bottles. There is only one line for 0.25l energy drinks where cans are used in the filling operation. Two of the lines are deployed for water in demijohns and glass bottles are used in filling operations on Three lines. Here the company employs disposable as well as reusable bottles. Since 1989 PET bottles have been used for the most important brand “Knjaz Miloš“, a carbonated mineral water. In 1996 they launched still water on the Serbian market for the first time, naturally also in PET bottles. Hitherto consumers in Serbia had only been familiar with still water that came from the tap. At less than 400mg minerals/litre this represents a balanced mineral water that tastes not too tangy but not too bland either. Whereas, up to five years ago, the proportion of PET compared to glass was around 50/50, today there are four PET lines taking care of 76% of filling operations.