The Romaqua Group, the largest producer of mineral water domestically, estimates sales will rise by 30% this year, to some 92 million euros.

The Romanian-held group derived turnover worth 71 million euros last year, up 45% against 2005, due to a surge in juice and coffee sales as well as an increase in the production of mineral water.

Investments made last year were mainly dedicated to the company's mineral water business, on which Romaqua intended to strengthen its position as market leader.

"We invested 10 million euros on the water segment last year. We boosted the bottling capacity of Borsec, in order to strengthen our position on the market," said Octavian Cretu, the chairman of Romaqua. Part of last year's investment was aimed at the construction of a new factory in the Stanceni area, where Romaqua operate their second source of mineral water. The group's representatives estimated that the volume of mineral water production would amount to some 290 million litres last year, up 30% against the level recorded in 2005. The mineral water market is estimated at 1.1 billion euros, and the company currently holds a market share of over 25%. The two mineral water brands in Romaqua's portfolio are Borsec and Stanceni, with the latter having been relaunched last year through the expansion of company's distribution network nationwide.

"Now we have to boost our production capacity on the soft drinks segment, and the reason why we purchased the new production line was to manufacture preforms (the initial form of PET bottles i.e), which up until now we used to buy. We do not want to be reliant on anyone regarding the supply of preforms. They can be a problem, because they are an important factor in production costs," Octavian Cretu added.

Through this investment, the company will be able to manufacture all the preforms needed to bottle the water