Under the brand name of Topo Chico, Coca-Cola began to commercialize in the Costa Rican market a carbonated drink with alcohol, which belongs to the category known as "hard seltzer" or "spiked seltzer."
For now, the drink will be imported from Mexico, but Coca-Cola does not rule out producing it locally in the future.
In Costa Rica, Topo Chico Hard Seltzer will compete directly with "Adam & Eve", a product of the same category that is marketed since 2019 by Florida Ice, Farm & Co (Fifco).
A bill is being considered in Costa Rica that proposes to identify each container of this type of beverage with a device, label or sticker in order to prevent smuggling, a measure that, according to business people, would not be effective.
More than half of U.S. millennial consumers of Latino origin are attracted to Hispanic beverages, bread, tortillas, and ethnic prepared foods sold in supermarket chains.
Specialists in the field point out that nowadays Latino millennials are attracted to those supermarket chains that reflect their culture and that of their families.
As of October this year, the U.S. country will begin one of the phases of implementation of the new front labeling on food and non-alcoholic beverages, under the Labeling Law NOM-051 of the Ministry of Health.
One of the arguments that support the amendments to the Standard is the situation of health and welfare of citizens in the country. According to data from the National Health and Nutrition Survey (ENSANUT) 2018 (to date, the latest report released), 35.6% of children between 5 and 11 years old are overweight and obese. Meanwhile, children and young people between 12 and 19 years old report 38.4%, according to the Guatemalan Association of Exporters (Agexport).
Costa Rica's Florida Ice and Farm announced that it will begin to compete in the Mexican market with the marketing of flavored alcoholic beverages of the Segram's Escapes brand in more than 6,000 sales points.
The Costa Rican company Florida Ice and Farm (FIFCO), enters with a new business model in Mexico that takes more than a year of planning and analysis, is a strategy 'light on assets' that has as its tip to develop and market in that country the brand Seagram's Escapes in the category of flavored alcoholic beverages, a product focused and customized to the consumption trends of Mexicans, said an official statement.
In the first nine months of 2018, countries in the region imported non-alcoholic beverages for $327 million, 3% less than the same period in 2017.
Figures from the Trade Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with graphics]
Explore data in the interactive display.
Regional Imports Decline
Between January and September 2017 and the same period in 2018, the value imported into the region fell 3%, from $337 million to $327 million.
Businessmen in Nicaragua denounced that because of the tax reform approved by the Ortega regime, the tax burden on imports of all types of beverages has tripled.
Representatives of the Nicaraguan Chamber of Industries (Cadin) explained that before the tax reform that was approved last February came into effect, importers paid the tax on the total cargo of beverages in each import, but now it was ordered that this must be applied on the retail price of each of these products.
Embotelladora La Mariposa in Guatemala, Distribuidora La Florida in Costa Rica and Femsa in Panama are three of the companies in Central America that report the highest figures for purchases of all types of beverages.
An analysis of CentralAmericaData's Trade Intelligence unit provides details on the companies according to sector, main activity, volume and value of their imports, exports and other relevant data.
From January to June 2018, Central American companies imported $176 million worth of alcoholic beverages, 24% more than what was purchased during the same period in 2017.
Figures from the information system on the Alcoholic Beverage Market in Central America, from the Commercial Intelligence Area of CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with graphic"]
Because of the purchase behavior from Mexico, during the first half of the year, beer imports in Central America totaled $83 million, 45% more than in the same period in 2017.
Figures from the Information System on the Malt Beer Market in Central America, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with graphic"]
Central American countries imported $33 million in fruit and vegetable juices in the first quarter of 2018, 4% more than the same period last year.
Figures from the information system of the Fruit and Vegetable Juice Market in Central America, from the Business Intelligence Area of CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with graphic"]
In the first quarter of the year, countries in the region imported $106 million worth of non-alcoholic beverages, and 40% of the total was purchased by companies in Panama and Guatemala.
Figures from the information system on the Alcoholic Beverages Market in Central America, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with graph"]
From January to March of 2018 Central American countries bought $40 million worth of malt beer from abroad, 46% more than the same period in 2017.
Figures from the Information System on the Malt Beer Market in Central America, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with graph"]
In the first quarter of the year, purchases of bottled water in Central America totaled $6.2 million, registering a reduction of 3% compared to the figures reported in the same period in 2017.
Figures from the information system on the Bottled Water Market in Central America, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with graph"]
The beverage concentrate production plant that Coca Cola has started building in Liberia, Costa Rica, will measure 34,000 square meters and is scheduled to start operating in January 2020.
The plant will be located within the Zona Franca Solarium, in a plot of land measuring 103,000 m2. The factory will produce 90 compounds that are used for beverages that are exported to Central America, the Caribbean, Chile, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, the Costa Rican Coalition of Development Initiatives said in a statement.
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