Soft drink majors switch track to gain coconut water business

It's a rush of soft drink majors into the coconut water business. Just a few days after PepsiCo acquiring the Brazilian coconut makers Amacoco, Coca Cola now has invested in coconut water company Zico.

Seen as a natural energy drink containing calcium, magnesium and potassium, coconut water has hit the popularity chart in the US though European market is still to open doors for the entry of this unique drink.

Coca-Cola is sketching plans to help build up the market for coconut water in the US, having taken a minority stake in Zico Beverages.

Coca-Cola would use its brand building expertise to expand the reach of the coconut water specialists.

Zico Beverages which was founded in the year 2004 in California promotes its Zico Pure Premium Coconut Water as "nature's sports drink" and sells the product through grocery and natural food stores also gyms, yoga studios and the web.

It has grown rapidly in the past few years and has just attracted investment of $15m from Coca-Cola, and others.

Both PepsiCo and Coca Cola have a strong presence in India and accounts for 22.34 per cent of the world's coconut production. It is one of the major players in the world's coconut trade. Currently the crop is grown in 1.91 million hectares with an annual production of nearly 13000 million nuts.

As future strategic plans it will be natural for the two companies to look at India to develop a footing in the coconut business here as the country holds strong business prospects in terms of production and consumption.


Source : fnbnews

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