The bottled water business is experiencing price drops. The Ethiopian Bottled Water and Soft Drink Manufacturing Industries Association (EBSMIA) says that at least two major brands have reduced prices.
According to the Association, the average price for a pack of half liter bottled water is 55 to 63 birr but now one company is selling the product for 38 birr.
Ashenafi Merid, General Manager of EBSMIA said that they are looking into the reasons behind the discounts. “The bottlers say that weather and competition are two major factors.” Ashenafi says EBSMIA wants to learn more.
Consumption of bottled drinking water has been increasing and currently there are over 87 factories and new brands are joining every month.
New entrants include Gold and Tena.
Local company Gold Group just launched Gold Water. The group set up two water bottling plants in Oromia Regional State with a 600 million birr investment. Gold Still Water Bottling Plant at the Taxeq Industry Zone in Burayu in Oromia Regional State and Gold Sparkling Water Plant in Ambo in Oromia Regional State. The construction of Gold water rests on 30,000sqm of land. The plant has a production capacity of 170,000 bottles per hour, in 330ml, one litter, two-litter and 20-litre bottles an hour. Gold Sparkling Water Plant will have a production capacity of 24,000 bottles of sparkling water an hour and is expected to enter the market after six months. Sisay Mengesha, marketing manager of Goldwater, said after three months, the company will start is exporting its product to Saudi Arabia and UAE. Gold will be distributed at 57 birr for one pack, Sisay mentioned.
Tena Water’s plant owned by Bereket Bottled Drinking Water PLC is one of the new firms joining the market. The plant is located at Soro District, in Hadiya Zone in southern Ethiopia with the investment of 200 million birr. The plant has a capacity of producing 15,000 half-liter bottles an hour. Tena Water will come in sizes of 350 ml, half-liter, one-liter, 1.5-liters and two-liters.
However, supply has not kept up with demand as the existing companies have the capacity to supply not more than five percent of the total consumption required in Ethiopia produces about 3.5 billion liters of water a year. Recently expansion of illegal water bottling that are unsafe has been a problem.