PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2016

Hong Kong Chongqing Xi'an Taiyuan Shenyang Qingdao Nanjing Guangzhou Shanghai Beijing Jinan CHINA EDITOUR 10 PET planet insider Vol. 17 No. 06/16 www.petpla.net SPONSORS The Editourmobil goes to China Red giant on the road to normality by Alexander Büchler grinds to a halt. The reason for this is complex. It is not simply a question of China’s moderate growth rate, the principal reason is probably down to the fact that the beverage industry is now serving all regions and therefore the market has become to a certain extent saturated. With a population of around 1.4 billion, China is clearly a huge market for beverages. People drink a lot of tea, which they brew themselves. At motorway services you would normally expect to find a cigarette machine, whereas in China a jug of 95°C hot water is made available free of charge for the tea drinker. Despite this, a healthy market for packaged beverages has rapidly developed. It is estimated to amount to some 116 billion litres. Ignoring beer and other alcoholic beverages this equates to a per capita consumption of 82l. Of this 33% is in water (28l), 22% in CSD (18l), 15% in juices (12l) and 10% in ready to drink tea (8l) (source: data from machine builders and our own research). In 2015 a total of 118 billion preforms were produced in China. Measured on an interna- tional scale, there is still consider- able scope for significant per capita usage. Depending on who you speak to, average annual per capita consump- tion of bottled water is 65 bottles, i.e. an average of 0.43l (Mr Yin Zhipin, JiangSu Shen Qian Food Packaging) or 0.8l/PET bottle amounting to 35 bottles per capita (Mr George Wan, MHT). The truth probably lies some- where between these two figures. The key point now is that in the last year (2015) the usual increase did not occur. On the contrary, the CSD sector declined and in the water sector there was a shift from cheap to premium. The minor reason for this may have been the chilly weather in 2015 but more likely is the fact that bottlers have been installing their filling lines in the westernmost tip of China, meaning that there are now no more blank spaces on the map. For years Western companies delivered machinery, equipment and moulds for the beverage industry to China, enjoying annual two-digit growth rates. Then suddenly it all The China Road Show