Coca-Cola India is set to enter the 100% packaged juice market under its Minute Maid brand, after racking up strong sales of non-carbonated drinks.
The time is right to enter the category in India, Atul Singh (pictured), president and CEO, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia, said on the sidelines of Food Forum India 2011 here on Monday.
“There is growth in both carbonated (sparkling) and non-carbonated (still) segments, though sparkling is much larger part of our business currently. Juice drinks, we believe, is a big opportunity. Yes, there are a lot of players in the juice category, but we welcome competition,” Singh said.
Minute Maid 100% juice would be available in 200 ml and 1 litre stock-keeping units, priced at Rs20 and Rs85, respectively.
Coca-Cola had acquired Minute Maid brand in 1960 from Florida Foods Corporation.
The cola major’s entry into the 100% juice segment comes four years after arch rival PepsiCo launched Tropicana 100% juice in the country.
The other players in this segment include Parle Agro with the Saint brand and Dabur India with Real and Activ.
Earlier this month, consumer goods giant Hindustan Unilever Ltd also rolled out fruit and soya milk-based juices under its Kissan brand.
In the last one year, Coca-Cola India has made several launches in the non-carbonated segment — energy drink Burn, fruit-based drinks Minute Maid Nimbu Fresh, Minute Maid Apple and Minute Maid Mixed Fruit, and milk-based mango drink Maaza Milky Delite.
In November last year, it had launched ready-to-drink iced-tea under the Nestea brand.
However, most of these products continue to be in test-marketing phase, and are going to see a national rollout in this calendar year.
The company is clearly looking to grow the contribution from non-carbonated drinks, where PepsiCo is also building significant presence.
The Coca-Cola Company is looking at India figuring among the top five contributors to its global sales in the years ahead. It currently figures among the top 10 performers.
“India is a very strategic market for The Coca-Cola Company. We are a very important market along with China, Brazil and Russia. If one looks at The Coca-Cola Company’s Vision 2020, clearly India has a big role to play in achieving the goal,” Singh said.
The company has also recently appointed Andriy Avramenka, who has previously helped grow the group’s global juices business in markets like Russia, to head the juices business division in India.
“We want to grow a good juices business in India and are building a separate strong team for the division,” Singh said.
As per industry estimates of 2010, the non-carbonated beverages segment is valued at Rs2,500-3,000 crore. Within this, 100% fruit juices are a small segment, worth around Rs200 crore and growing at 20-25%, largely limited to sales through organised retail stores.
Most of the growth for beverage companies now is in the health and fruit-based drinks segment that is growing in double digits.
Coca-Cola’s India portfolio has brands like Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Thumbs Up, Fanta, Minute Maid, Limca, Sprite, Maaza, Kinley, Kinley Club Soda and Burn.
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