PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2013

EDITOUR REPORTS 17 EDITOUR REPORTS 17 carriageway motorways in metropolitan areas. Water is another important means of transporta- tion, particularly for agricultural exports, making use of some 3,100km of navigable waterways. (Sources: Wikipedia, German Association for Inter- national Cooperation (GIZ)) Get in touch with... PET In terms of bottle production, PET in Chile has advanced since the initial imports which consisted of packaging for the beverages sector made by Coca-Cola during the mid-90s. How- ever, one striking feature is the fact that this marked growth over the past few years relates almost exclusively to CSDs, non-CSDs, juices and water. The major brands here are indisput- ably Coca-Cola and Pepsi. The range, particu- larly as regards the B-brands, is wide and of great diversity, both in terms of taste as well as in terms of bottle sizes and design. And demand for CSDs is increasing. In per capita consump- tion of soft drinks in Latin America, Chile occu- pies second place with around 121l per year, behind the market leader Argentina with 131l. Likewise, juices and milk products in PET bottles are finding their way into the retail trade more and more frequently. By contrast, Chile’s beer market is characterised by the exclusive use of glass bottles (66%) up to 1l volume and cans (34%). In 2011, beer, in an overall com- parison of all alcoholic drinks, represented a proportion of 53% of sales. Currently the sector is registering growth of between 8% and 10% per year, which enables us to state incontrovert- ibly that “beer is enjoying increasing popular- ity at grass roots level”. It is also a fact that, over the past few years, a trend towards higher quality beer has become discernible and for this people are prepared to pay higher prices. The leader in the beer market is the Compania Cerveceria Unidas (CCU) with a market share of around 75% and their strongest brand names are “Cristal“ and ”Escudo“. Apart from the occa- sional use of plastic closures on the large glass bottles, PET as a filler medium is not an attrac- tive proposition for the consumer. On a number of occasions we heard about what was appar- ently an earlier attempt on the part of CCU to bottle the Cristal brand in PET, a move swiftly rejected by consumers. However, we have not been able to obtain confirmation of this story. In our discussions with market experts what came out was that the PET bottle tends to be favoured by smaller breweries rather than the majors. Now we come to the particular features that characterise Argentina. Here, too, it was Coca- Cola who popularised the use of PET. Based on our technical discussions with PET enthu- siasts throughout the country, rough estimates Save RAW MATERIALS reduced plastic volumes Save ENERGY less energy consumption Save TROUBLE more quality and higher performance, guaranteed by a sole supplier Full INSPECTED online quality control / stand alone With Sacmi, the beverage specialists are always at your side. With our unbeatable technological know-how and continuous research we are creating new containers and closures designed to ensure outstanding performance. The new IPS injection system for preforms, the CCM compression press for caps and the quality control systems fully designed and built by Sacmi, allows for large-scale production with considerable advantages in terms of efficiency and flexibility. The outcome? Reduced plastic volumes, less energy consumption and lower running costs.All in a bottle: the one you’ll soon be making. Preform & Closure technologically together HALL 13 13A63