China's Local Beverage Producers Regain Market ShareChina's local beverage producers are regaining a share of the domestic market from their powerful international rivals such as Coke and Pepsi.According to sources at the 2000 China International Trade Fair for Food, Food Processing and Packaging, the top 10 local producers led by Robust, Jianlibao and Wahaha accounted for 45 percent of the country's beverage production in the first half of the year, compared with 22 percent in 1997. The total production by the 10 companies amounted to 3.4 million tons in the six months, a year-on-year growth of 46 percent, according to statistics. International brands such as Coke and Pepsi swept over the Chinese market in the first years of their entrance into China with the country beginning to open to the outside world in the late 1970s. Meanwhile, a number of Chinese producers have been growing over recent years, with their products gaining increasing popularity among consumers. Sources from the China Association of Beverage Industry attributed their success to good quality control, innovated products, and most importantly, the implementation of successful brand strategies, which they learned from their foreign competitors. The sources noted that the rise of these local producers marks the end of a beverage industry heavily dominated by foreign producers and the beginning of a new age characterized by healthy competition. |
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