MEXICO City's Coca-Cola Femsa, the world's largest Coke bottler in terms of volume, has reported a 3.9% rise in case volumes for the first six months of 2011, driven by the Coca-Cola brand and juice beverages.
Total sales volume reached 1 270 billion unit cases.
The bottler said the carbonated category, driven by a 4% growth of the Coca-Cola brand, contributed more than 70% of incremental volumes.
Its bottled water portfolio, including bulk water, grew 4% and represented 15% of incremental volumes, while its still beverage category grew 11%, mainly driven by the performance of the Jugos del Valle line of business in Mexico and Brazil, and the Cepita juice brand in Argentina.
Femsa and the Coca-Cola Company jointly acquired Mexico-based Jugos De Valle in 2007 and since then the juice range has experienced great success, becoming Coca-Cola's 15th billion dollar brand this year.
Packaging costs
Coke Femsa also said the cost of goods sold increased by 10.5% - "mainly as a result of higher PET and sweetener costs across our operations, which were partially offset by the appreciation of the Brazilian real, the Colombian peso, and the Mexican peso as applied to our US dollar-denominated raw material costs."