PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2015

EDITOUR REPORT 18 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 04/15 www.petpla.net million people, two thirds of whom live in the north west and west, with an urban proportion amounting to only just under 60%. In 2011 life expectancy was 75.9. A noticeable factor is the high proportion of young people, with around 28% under 15 years of age by contrast to around 6% over 65s. Youth unemployment is relatively high. The illiteracy rate is around 30%, primarily among the older popula- tion. The healthcare system is well developed especially in municipal areas. Income per head was around US$3392 in 2014. Morocco’s main economic segments are agriculture, tourism and mining with a focus on phosphate extraction. Some 75% of all the phosphate extracted worldwide comes from here. Morocco is also a major investor in solar and wind energy with a view to ensuring greater independence in energy imports. The ratio of imports to exports is more than twice as great. The chief trading partner is the EU, accounting for around 50% of imports and 60% of exports. As is revealed by the statistics, Morocco is a tea- drinking country. On average more than 93 litres of this hot beverage were consumed per head. Way behind come CSDs and water at 21 litres and 14.5 litres respectively. At 3.41%, water accounts for the highest rate of growth in consumption. By comparison to water, the consumption of CSDs stands out as being higher on average. As regards the packaging split, PET is the leader where water is con- cerned with a share of 96%, the proportion as regards still drinks is 79% and 71% for CSDs (2012). In terms of PET usage, the water and CSD sectors are looking stable at 96% and 71% respectively. With still drinks PET is losing less ground in terms of pouch packaging. Significant changes to format are evolving in the case of sports drinks that are increasingly going over from cans to PET bottles. On my journey through Morocco I travelled from Medi- terranean Tangiers to Agadir in the south. On the way I visited the bottlers Chaouen Water and Huillerie du Souss, as well as preformers PET Morocco and APPE. The big- gest player in the local water market is Les Eaux Minérales d’Oulmès. With brandnames Sidi Ali, Ain Atlas, Oulmès and Bahia, each of which is available in still and carbon- ated versions, this bottler holds a market share of around 75% retail value share. Of roughly the same magnitude is the CSD market leader North Africa Bottling Company (NABC), the Coca-Cola bottler. Pepsi lags behind with 20% whilst the rest is distributed among correspondingly small bottlers. According to estimates, the packaged water side of the business is set to increase markedly in the coming years. The main reason for this is the general quality of the water which people frequently regard as inadequate, especially in urban environments. Added to this is a sig- nificant increase in larger packaging containers up to 5 Supported by: Next... In the upcoming issue you will read about our appointments in Tunisia with:  Green Line, April 29, 2014  La Preforme, April 30, 2014  Sogedes, May 1, 2014  Omega Maghreb, Sipa and Valorflakes, May 2, 2014