MyCola’ hits the export market

With the consignment of two MyCola containers to the Maldives, My Beverages Marketing (Pvt) Ltd, part of Pet Packaging Co (Pvt) Ltd made a major breakthrough in their beverages manufacture and distribution. One container load consists of 52,400 bottles.

MyCola sustained a legal battle with one of the multi-national beverages giants in their way to getting established in the market.

R S M L Sarmaa, Managing Director, My Beverages Marketing said that this is only the beginning of major exporting and said that they intend to export 10 containers of MyCola to Maldives every month.

Pet Packaging originally has been manufacturing, bottling, distributing and exporting drinking water and on their 10th anniversary in 2004 commenced manufacturing beverages under the brand name ‘My’.

They have first started in 1994 as a BOI Company to export ‘Cristal’ brand bottled drinking water which now covers 50 % market share in Maldives with both Cristal and Life brand bottled drinking water.

Mr Sarmaa said that they went into the manufacture of carbonated beverages with the concept of convenience by introducing the PET food grade plastic bottle beverages ranging from 200 ml, 330 ml, 500 ml and 1500 ml revolutionizing the local market as a concept no deposit and no return.

He said that all over Europe glass bottle containers are deteriorating due to high environmental issues. RGB glass bottles washing for re-use need heavy chemicals such as caustic soda etc which damages the environment if it is released into the earth without proper treatment.

He said that making a glass bottle too create relatively high energy costs than PET plastic bottle which rapidly depleting the non-renewable energy source encouraged the industry towards the PET food grade plastic containers. He said that when high heating energy used, releasing of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere is higher than the turning out of PET plastic bottle, thus less environmental damage.

He said that at the start they had a 2% beverage market penetration and projected the same percentage penetration annually. But, he said that the penetration retarded due to the conflict situation in the country and the global recession. He said that as things are different now and with the possibility of penetrating to North and East markets he is confident not only achieving the 2% projected penetration, but could achieve more.

Mr Sarmaa said that today’s trend in the market is a shift from aerated water to fruit drinks and said that they would enter the fruit drinks market very soon.

He said that they would achieve a projected market share of 14% in beverages in 2014.

- Asian Tribune -