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Xinhua Finance: US-based Calcol Sees Strong Prospects for China Diet Soft Drinks
Xinhua Finance: US-based Calcol Sees Strong Prospects for China Diet Soft Drinks.
About this update from Calcol Inc
[{"type":"text","content":"The below article is reprinted from Xinhua Finance\r\n\r\nBEIJING (XFN-ASIA), August 8, 2006 - Calcol Inc (CLCL-OTC) believes its diet soft drinks will meet with huge success in China and catapult the company into a leading industry player in the country.\r\n\r\nThe Cleveland-based company is launching a China-wide marketing campaign \r\nfor its Malibu-Cola and other soft drinks aimed at health- and cost-conscious \r\nconsumers, the company's chairman and president Norman C. Kaplan said.\r\n\"I see a focus on diet soft drinks making us a leader in the beverage \r\nindustry in China,\" Kaplan told XFN-Asia in an interview. \"I see no barriers, \r\nas all our products in China will be available in both diet and regular \r\nvarieties.\"\r\n\r\nHe said the company has set an ambitious goal of challenging global \r\ngiants Coke and Pepsi in China as sugar-free drinks gain broader appeal. \r\n\"With our lower prices and diet options for all our flavors, we see \r\nourselves with a 25-30 market share in China in three to five years, and will \r\nbe among the top three. That is because the other two simply don't have the \r\nwide variety of diet choices and flavors yet,\" Kaplan said.\r\nThe company has so far focused on Beijing and the northern city of \r\nTianjin. It said it now has around a 5 pct share in those markets.\r\nMalibu-Cola is produced and sold exclusively in the China market. It \r\nfirst appeared in Beijing and Tianjin supermarkets and in nearby Hebei \r\nprovince just three years ago.\r\nBut Kaplan is already setting his sights on becoming a market leader in \r\nChina and directly taking on the world's two carbonated soft drink giants -- \r\nCoca-Cola and Pepsi -- in the country.\r\n\"In many major hypermarkets in the Beijing-Tianjin area, Malibu was \r\nalready getting one-third of the shelf space with Coke and Pepsi products,\" \r\nhe said.\r\nKaplan said Coke and Pepsi derive the bulk of their earnings in China \r\nfrom sugared soft drinks, and offer sugar-free options only for their \r\nflagship cola products.\r\n\"We believe regular soft drinks sweetened with sugar, consumed in \r\nmoderation, have a place as part of a healthy diet. But we also think diet \r\nsoft drinks are probably a healthier choice, particularly if consuming more \r\nthan one 12-ounce can per day,\" Kaplan said.\r\nMalibu soft drinks come in sw...