Tag Archives: drinks

Russia’s Shokoladnitsa to open coffee shops in Uzbekistan

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TASHKENT, MAY 26 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Highlighting an increase in coffee consumption across Central Asia and the South Caucasus, Russian coffee shop brand Shokoladnitsa said that it was working on a deal to open its first cafes in Uzbekistan and Georgia.

For Uzbekistan in particular, the opening of Shokoladnitsa branded coffee shops would herald a new era and open up opportunities for other companies looking to invest in Central Asia’s most populous country. There are currently no high street coffee shop chains in Uzbekistan. Uzbeks are also renowned for their love of sipping light green tea out of piala, a small handleless bowl, rather than drinking mugs of black coffee.

In an interview with the Russian-language Rambler website, Maxim Trubnikov, director of regional development and franchising at Shokoladnitsa, said he expected to open five shops in Uzbekistan and eight new shops in Kazakhstan.

“Currently, we are working with Georgia, Uzbekistan, negotiations are underway for the opening of the brand in Kazakhstan,” he said.

“I expect that we conclude the contracts in the coming months.”

Shokoladnitsa also owns the Coffee House and Wabi Sabi brands. It was one of the original coffee shop brands to expand across Russian, serving americanos and cappuccinos since 2000.

It already has franchises in Astana, Almaty, Yerevan and Baku. The coffee scene has become increasingly developed in Kazakhstan with the emergence of several coffee shop chains over the past few years, including Starbucks.

In Uzbekistan, a Bulletin correspondent said a coffee culture was slowly spreading through independent cafes in Tashkent but that tea was predominant.

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(News report from Issue No. 330, published on May 28 2017)

 

Georgian wine producers tap into Chinese market

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TBILISI, MARCH 7 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Official data from Georgia showed that its wine producers exported 8.8m bottles of wine in January and February, nearly double the volume during the same period in 2016.

Wine is one of Georgia’s most important exports and the National Wine Agency said that the value of exports in January and February hit $20.5m. This puts Georgia on course for a record year and highlights the success of its export strategy. So successful has the marketing strategy become that rival winemaker Azerbaijan has pledged to mimic it.

Georgia’s wine industry has concentrated its efforts on breaking into new markets where drinkers are acquiring a taste for wine. Top of this list is China. Georgia sold nearly 832,000 bottles of wine to China in Jan. – Feb. and expects the Chinese market to become the second biggest, after Russia, by the end of the year, overtaking Ukraine.

The head of marketing at the Wine Agency, Irakli Cholobargia, said: “China as a market is one of the keys to drive volumes and serve as one of the alternatives to the Russian market on which we would like to be less dependent as far as unstable political relations are concerned.”

The boost in wine exports to China also vindicates advocates of a free-trade deal signed with China in Sept. 2016. Since then Georgian wine companies have signed a series of deals with Chinese companies, including a deal by Badagoni in Nov. 2016 to export 5m bottles of wine.

In 2016, Georgia’s overall exports rose by 38% to 50m bottles. Russia made up 27.2m of this total, Ukraine 8.8m and China 8.3m.

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

Aliyev wants Azerbaijan to boost wine sales

FEB. 2 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan is producing only 20m bottles of wine per year, roughly a fifth of its capacity, media quoted President Ilham Aliyev as saying.

Mr Aliyev wants Azerbaijan to diversify away from oil and gas, which dominates the economy. The economy has taken a hit with the collapse in oil prices. He has previously highlighted the potential for growth in the hazelnut sector and now appears to have earmarked the wine-making industry for growth.

“Most of these plants were built in recent years. Major funds have been invested in them and modern equipment installed. How can it be possible for plants with a production capacity of 100m bottles to produce only 20m bottles of wine?” media quoted him as saying.

Georgia, which has a far more developed wine production and sales system, exports 50m bottles of wine every year. Most of the growth has come in China and other parts of the Far East.

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(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

Wine exports grow in Georgia

JAN. 6 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia exported 50m bottles of wine last year, media reported quoting the National Wine Agency, a 38% increase on 2015 exports. Russia bought more than half of Georgia’s wine exports, highlighting just how important it is as a market. The next biggest importers of Georgian wine were Ukraine and China. China doubled its imports of Georgian wine to 5m bottles.

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(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Georgian Shilda to export 5m bottles of wine

JAN. 12 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Shilda Wines, owned by former Georgian economy minister Vano Chkhartishvili MP, has made a deal to export 5m bottles of wine to China over the next three years. The deal is the largest ever struck by a wine producer with China. It highlights how important China has become to the Georgian wine market. China is the third biggest Georgian wine importer after Russia and Ukraine.

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(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

PepsiCo plans expansion in Kyrgyzstan

NOV. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — US giant food, snacks and beverage manufacturer PepsiCo will expand its production line to produce 2.5 tonnes of cottage cheese annually at its factory in Bishkek. PepsiCo entered the Kyrgyz market in 2010, after buying a 66% stake in Russian dairy producer Wimm-Bill- Dann for $3.8b. It produces its cottage cheese under the Merry Milkman brand.

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(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

Georgia sends wine to China

NOV. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian wine company Badagoni said it will sell 5m bottles of wine to China in a landmark agreement with the Asian country’s distributor Wenzhou Bydoway. The company did not specify the timeframe of the contract, but the volume agreed represents around 12% of Georgia’s annual wine exports, which have grown significantly in the past two years. The deal was made possible through a free trade agreement signed with China in September.

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(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

The battle for Armenia’s water services

NOV. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Veolia and French rival Saur had been the two major bidders for a contract to unite Armenia’s water supply and sewage systems under one operator.

Prior to Veolia’s victory in the tender, the two companies had been evenly matched.

Veolia operates Yerevan Djur which supplies 1.1m people living in Armenia’s capital with water and waste services.

Since 2014, Saur has operated Armenian WSC, Lori WSC, Shirak WSC and Nor Akunk WSC which supply water and sewage services to 1m people.

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(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)

France’s Veolia beats rivals to win $800 contract for Armenia’s water

NOV. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — French utility company Veolia will become the near-monopoly water distribution and sewage management operator in Armenia, after beating European rivals to the €800m ($845m) contract.

Veolia, one of the biggest water and waste management companies in the world with around 175,000 employees and revenues of over $30b/year, already controls Yerevan Djur, a local utility company that supplies water and sewage services to the capital. Through this entity, Veolia already employs 1,200 workers in Armenia and, under the new 15 year contract, it will become one of the country’s largest employers.

Veolia’s management hailed the tender victory as a major achievement.

It beat French rival Saur, Italy’s Acea and a German-Russian consortium for the contract.

“This success is exemplary: it is the result of a joint effort by Veolia’s teams who have managed to capitalise on the experience and professionalism of the Group’s employees in Yerevan and to apply the best practices developed by a network of experts working in over 40 countries,” Malika Ghendouri, Veolia’s vice president of Central and Eastern Europe, said in a statement.

Armenia doesn’t have natural resources on the scale of its neighbours Azerbaijan or even Georgia, making water management one of the most lucrative sectors for Western companies.

Saur had managed four other major water utility companies in Armenia but will now relinquish control to Veolia at the start of 2017.

Several international financial institutions, among which the EBRD and the European Investment Bank, pledged to support Veolia’s infrastructure work in Armenia, which the company forecast at $200m in the next four years.

One of the reasons that Veolia won the contract was its apparent drive to improve water services across the region. Armenia’s Soviet-era infrastructure needs updating.

Allegations of corruption have marred the privatisation of Armenia’s water utilities since the early 2000s. The World Bank, which masterminded the privatisation, dismissed the allegations in 2007 and 2008.

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(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)

 

Georgian Borjomi enters Korea

OCT. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Korean company ANK PS signed an agreement for exclusive sales rights for Borjomi, the famous Georgian water. Borjomi, which is one of Georgia’s most recognisable brands abroad, will enter the Korean market in November.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)