PETpla.net Insider 11+12 / 2017

BOTTLING / FILLING PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 11+12/17 www.petpla.net 22 Modern filling technology for the Uzbek water market Aiming for the top The water market is growing worldwide. How beverage pro- ducers are meeting the increasing demand and preparing themselves for future growth in this segment can be illus- trated by an example of the Butsifal Group in Uzbekistan. With a high-performance KHS filling and packaging line for PET bottles the newcomer is challenging the supremacy of local market leaders and doing business beyond its own national boundaries. The times when water was drunk from public supply lines have long gone in Uzbekistan. Prior to inde- pendence the inhabitants of the Central Asian country still drew their water from taps found in public areas. At the end of the Cold War there was no much-needed investment in the country’s drinking water systems, causing the water quality to suffer. People then had to think anew. Since setting up the Republic of Uzbekistan the government has paid great atten- tion to its citizens’ water supply – and still does – yet the Uzbeks increas- ingly turned to bottled water, thus triggering the boom in mineral water. The market is still growing fast today: in 2010 the Uzbeks consumed about 1.6 million hectolitres of water from the bottle. In 2015 the output reached more than 2.5 million hectolitres. By 2020 this figure is expected to increase to over four million hectoli- tres according to surveys by Euro- monitor. Four out of five consumers drink their water out of PET bottles – preferably one-way PET. The Butsifal Group entered this growth segment less than ten years ago, with the company’s business developing just as dynamically as the entire Uzbek water market. Founded in 2009, the beverage producer aimed to close the gap on the market lead- ers, establishing the Sayhun water brand after just a short time in opera- tion. The brand name is a reference to the old word for the longest river in Central Asia, the Syr Darya. Thanks to its natural origins, balanced mineral composition and low sodium content Sayhun water is becoming ever more popular. From one million litres of water in 2010, within five years the company boosted its output of min- eral water forty times over. This rapid growth soon reached its limits, how- ever. The capacity of the two lines by Chinese manufacturers was no longer sufficient. The low level of automation prevented efficient processes; time and again longer downtimes compro- mised filling. The Butsifal Group thus decided to renew its processes, with filling and packaging equipment by KHS. After a short planning and pro- duction phase the new line went into operation in the middle of 2016. High-performance technology processes up to 26,400bph “Thanks to KHS technology we’ve strengthened our position on the market and even already improved on it,” says Abdumalik Khalilov, director of the Butsifal Group. Since commis- High-performance technology for the Butsifal Group: the KHS InnoPET Blomax Series IV stretch blow moulder and KHS Innofill DRV filling machine form the begin- ning of the KHS turnkey line. Premium water for Uzbekistan: Sayhun, the Butsifal Group’s flagship brand, is sold in both round and square bottles in still and carbonated versions.