Russian retailer X5: sales of Georgian mineral water surge
MOSCOW. June 14 (Interfax) - Sales of Borjomi brand mineral water from Georgia, which became available in Russia at the end of May after a ban imposed in 2006 was lifted, exceed sales of other curative mineral waters produced in the Caucasus and Transcaucasus region by 50%-100%, X5 Retail Group said in a statement.
X5 remains the exclusive seller of Borjomi in Russia.
Sales of the signature Georgian mineral water brand grew throughout the first week at stores in X5's Perekrestok chain. In the week of June 7-13, a total of 24,559 bottles were sold at stores in X5's central affiliate (including Moscow and Moscow region, Yaroslavl, Ryazan, Tver, Ivanovo and Kaluga. Perekrestok stores in St. Petersburg and Leningrad began selling Borjomi on June 12.
Borjomi also appeared at the end of May on store shelves at X5's Karusel chain of hypermarkets. The 18 hypermarkets at the central affiliate sold 31,250 bottles in the May 30-June 13 period.
X5 plans to begin sales at its Pyaterochka discount chain in the near future.
Representatives at several X5 competitors previously told Interfax they had so far been unable to secure deliveries of Borjomi from the exclusive distributor in Russia, IDS Borjomi Russia.
X5 and IDS Borjomi have a common shareholder: Alfa Group, which purchased the Borjomi stake in a deal that was disclosed last week, for $300 million, the newspaper Kommersant reported.
One more major shipment of the Georgian mineral water has reached Russia, it was learned on Friday. "Three lots of mineral water totaling 146,500 liters completed customs formalities at the Mamontovsky customs post. The water is packaged in 0.5-liter glass bottles. This is good news," the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Russian chief sanitary physician Gennady Onishchenko, told Interfax.
Russia banned the importation of Borjomi, along with Georgian wines, in the spring of 2006 over product quality concerns.
Last November IDS Borjomi asked Rospotrebnadzor to re-examine the issue of Borjomi's registration. In early February, Russia and Georgia agreed the mechanism for permitting Georgian products to return to the Russian market. It provides for dispatching Rospotrebnadzor experts to Georgia to certify products for export. The first inspection of Georgian wine and mineral water took place at the end of February and early March and the second in the April 1-5 period.
IDS Borjomi International is one of the biggest mineral water producers in the CIS and the Baltic States. The company has 12 brands in its portfolio, including Borjomi, Likani, Myrgorodska, Morshynska and Saint Spring.