Bottled water consumption growth in Poland falls short of expectations

During the first seven months of 2008 and amounted to almost 1.2bn litres, according to research agency Nielsen. By way of comparison, the consumption of water has grown by 7% year on year for the corresponding period in 2007.
At the beginning of this year, Euromonitor International envisaged that the sale of water would increase by 10% versus 2007. At present, however, it appears that the realisation of this prognosis will be impossible. Cooler than average spring and summer seasons have prompted lower-than-expected consumption of bottled water. This can also be attributed to the lack of new products introduced this year such as the flavoured waters that have been popular over the last two years.
However, in terms of value, sales have grown by 7% to PLN 1.3bn (€388m) as a result of rises of 4-5% in water prices. The cost of water production has also risen on the back of higher transport and labour costs, according to Rzeczpospolita.
Water consumption in Poland is still much lower than in other European countries. The average Pole drinks 60 litres of bottled water per year whereas other European nations consume 90 litres annually per capita, on average.
Source:polishmarket.com