Coca-Cola Içecek to open bottling plant in K-P

Will pursue project after inauguration of sixth plant in Faisalabad next month

LAHORE: As Pakistan's population continues to increase consumption of carbonated drinks, Coca-Cola Içecek (CCI) has decided to speed up its investment plans in the country.

The Pakistani subsidiary is now looking at setting up a bottling plant In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), after its Faisalabad facility is expected to come online next month.

"We will open a plant in K-P next," CCI Pakistan Public Affairs and Communications Director Cagdas Donmez told The Express Tribune. "The company will inaugurate its sixth plant in Faisalabad in April this year at an investment of $45 million. After this, we will pursue the plant in K-P."

The Faisalabad plant is the second bottling plant the company is establishing since it started pursuing aggressive expansion in 2013. Earlier, the company invested $70 million in setting up a new bottling plant in Multan. According to Donmex, in the last five years, the company has invested $500 million in setting up new and refurbishing existing bottling plants.



The company's group director, Atilla Yerlikaya, last year announced to further invest $200 million in the Pakistani market.

Donmex further said that the company will hopefully initiate the manufacturing of carbonated drink 'cans' by next year. "Currently, a third party is manufacturing steel cans (metal container) for us in Pakistan but we are hopeful that by next year we will be in a position to manufacturing the cans ourselves," he said, adding that Pakistan is a growing market and is the second-best performing market for CCI, the fifth largest Coca-Cola bottler in the world with a share of 25%.

Currently, the company is operating with five plants with a capacity of 332 million units per annum. The Faisalabad plant alone will add another 100 million units capacity in the company's system. "Currently, the Lahore plant has a capacity of producing 36,000 units per hour. The Faisalabad plant will be installed with machinery that will produce 45,000 units per hours".

He said that the carbonated drinks market in Turkey has matured but in Pakistan there is a lot of room to be covered. "In Lahore only, average per-annum consumption of coke is 68 per person, whereas in Istanbul, it is 108, so you can judge the potential," he said.

The company, which claims 38% market share in the carbonated drinks segment in Pakistan, is also looking to increase its product line.

"We are looking to expand our product line by entering in the energy drinks segment and further diversify in the juices segment," he said.

He, however, said that it is early to say which segment the company will go for as the demand for carbonated drinks in Pakistan is rising sharply. "In the last six to seven years, average growth in carbonated drinks demand has stood at 16% and our first priority is to strike the perfect balance between rising demand and supply."

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2018.

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