Witmark predicts strong juice sales in 2005

Witmark, which manufactures juices under Jaffa, Jaffa Grand, Jaffa Gold, Sokovita and Nash Sok brands, plans to expand in 2005 and expects Jaffa sales to rise by more than 50 per cent.

The company has rocketed to success in the last few years on the back of a burgeoning juice sector - recently described by market analysts Euromonitor​ as the most dynamic category of Eastern Europe's soft drinks market.

Witmark said sales rose 80 per cent in 2002, twice as fast as the market, and by another 90 per cent over 2003 and 2004.

The company now has around a quarter of the tetra-pak juice market in the Ukraine and has built its success on large, modern production lines using domestic raw materials.

Its Kuchurgan factory has four tetra-pack lines as well as a line for producing concentrated tomato juice, a line for manufacturing purees and a line for manufacturing NFC apple juice (not from concentrate). Special aseptic containers can store more than 11m litres of juice and puree semis for more than a year without the need for preservatives.

But, analysts warned that competition would intensify on the Ukrainian juice market in the future and that firms should not be over-confident of success, despite the dynamic growth in juices.

Witmark, however, is confident it has the resources to stay on top. In all, the firm owns three factories with 11 tetra-pak lines and one line for glass bottling. It also independently manufactures all types of concentrated products from Ukrainian raw materials and says all its suppliers of tropical raw materials are thoroughly selected and have ISO 9000 quality certificates.

The company is well-positioned and exports fruit and vegetable juices to 15 countries around the world, including the US, Australia and Israel. Very large quantities are also exported to CIS (former soviet) countries, especially Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.