The producer of Biborteni mineral water expects the soft drinks market to witness growth by approximately 30 percent this year compared with last year, with the high summer season temperatures as one of the factors behind the increase.

"I believe a possible hot summer next year is not going to take producers by surprise again because they will build larger stocks than this year," says Madalin Simion, a brand manager at Biborteni.

Biborteni brand holds around 5 percent of the mineral water market and plans to gain 1 or 2 percent of the market this year in the wake of product portfolio diversification.

This year, the company re-launched Biborteni mineral water in 3 formulas depending on the carbonation degree after having added the second water brand to its portfolio Valea Brazilor at the end of last year.

"For 2007, we expect turnover to advance by 22 percent from last year," stated Biborteni representatives. The company is likely this way to reach sales worth more than 14 million euros by the end of the year.

The results the largest ten players on the soft drinks market (including mineral water) reported for last year point to an average sales growth pace of 20 percent against year 2005.

The domestic soft drinks market is estimated to be worth more than 800 million euros and could go up to one billion euros by the end of this year.

Companies have particularly counted on the segment of non-carbonated juice or that of ice tea, with these categories boasting the biggest increases on the soft drinks market over the passed year.

"There are two trends we are feeling, too: the expansion of the non-carbonated soft drinks market and the stagnation or very slight increase of the carbonated soft drinks market. As a result, in terms of Bibo juices included on the segment of carbonated soft drinks, we did not witness any changes in