Higher sales in supermarkets and PET bottling are at the core of local mineral water producers' development strategies.

The ranking of distribution channels, in terms of sales of mineral water, is consistent with the trend registered by the entire Romanian retail market. Thus, the share of supermarkets and large stores in total mineral water sales tends to increase. Their weight in total sales has almost doubled, to 25.7%, between September 2005 and August 2006, compared with the corresponding period of last year, according to MEMRB data. The steepest decline was registered by kiosks, which plummeted to 8.2% of total mineral water sales (in terms of quantity), down from 11% in the previous period.

Sales in the HoReCa segment (hotels, restaurants, catering) have also decreased, from 10.7% of the total mineral water volumes sold in the September 2004 - August 2005 period, to approximately 8.4%, according to MEMRB surveys.

"Generally, mineral water producers are not focusing on deliveries in HoReCa, as soft and energy drinks are favoured in this segment," explains Madalin Simion, brand manager with mineral water company Biborteni. HoReCa would be the last delivery channel eyed by mineral water distributors, after obtaining a strong position on the retail market, currently accounting for 81% of the mineral water market. "A producer posts profit more quickly if they focus on big market slices, so we decided to tackle PET bottling lines and retail distribution," M"d"lin Simion adds. All mineral water producers mainly choose PET bottling, because it entails lower production and distribution costs than glass bottling.

Thus, PET bottling now accounts for 90.2% of the total mineral water market, up from the 88.5% registered in the September 2004 - August 2005 period, the MEMRB data also show. "Mineral water in glass bottles is difficult to transport