PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2019

BOTTLING / FILLING PET planet Insider Vol. 20 No. 11/19 www.petpla.net 14 StrongPack and Sidel partner to create leading co-packing hub for non-alcoholic beverages in Africa Increased shelf life, decreased weight StrongPack Ltd. recently established its operations in the Nigerian market with the mission to become the number one, high-quality, non-alcoholic contract packaging com- pany in Africa. As part of its greenfield project, they installed a total of four Sidel lines over the span of two years, includ- ing a can line, two regular complete PET lines and one PET line integrating Sidel’s Actis coating system. The latter was critical to increase the drinks’ shelf life, thus address- ing some of the challenges in the local distribution chain. By choosing Actis, StrongPack could lightweight the bottles by 25% while redesigning their shapes. Carbonated soft drinks (CSD) are the second most popular bev- erage category in Africa, after bot- tled water. This segment continues to grow mainly due to the fact that the consumers’ purchasing power is steadily increasing on a continent with the youngest demography globally. However, distribution is complicated by long transportation routes and difficult road conditions, creating a large demand for bottled drinks with a longer shelf life. Within this emerging market, Nigeria is a very interesting case. With 195.9 million inhabitants and a population growth of 2.6% in 2018, it has been showing a healthy CSD performance over the last few years, even during economic slumps (with a volume growth of 11.1% CAGR from 2012 to 2017). This phenomenon was mainly driven by population increase, price competition and aggressive marketing campaigns from the major global CSD players. Tough logisitic conditions Witnessing these business oppor- tunities in the CSD market, Strong- Pack started their operations in 2018 as a co-packer of non-alcoholic beverages with some ambitious goals: “In the next five years, we want to become the number one non-alcoholic contract packaging company in all of Africa,” explains Del Tupaz, Managing Director at StrongPack. “At the same time, we aim to be the leading high quality co-packer in Nigeria, whatever the brand. This is fundamental to our business approach and it is definitely paying us back. We have recently started co-packing 60 cl PET bottles for a leading global soft drink com- pany,” he adds. When starting their operations in Nigeria, StrongPack needed to differ- entiate themselves and their capabili- ties from the existing players in the market, in a country that has histori- cally chosen returnable glass bottles as the main packaging format. They did this by investing in state-of-the-art technology for PET and can produc- tion, therefore expanding the range of packaging options they could offer to their customers. PET, for example, is well renowned for the convenience, the reusability and the performance it can provide through the supply chain. However, given the hot temperatures and the tough logistics in Nigeria, han- dling PET packaging is more demand- ing compared to other parts of the world. Some products are displayed and merchandised outside on open marketplaces, often directly under the sun, a distribution set-up which leads to carbonation loss. Additionally, with poor road conditions, bottles are shaken during transportation, increas- ing the loss of carbonation further. The Managing Director of Strong- Pack adds, “We were looking for a solution that would help us overcome some of these challenges. After careful consideration, we found that Sidel and their Actis system – as integrated in a Combi configuration in one of our complete PET lines – was what would fit the local value chain conditions best.” This decision makes StrongPack the first and only bev- erage producer in Africa which has Sidel’s Actis technology installed and is able to provide coated PET bottles for CSD.