Beverage giant Coca-Cola is moving closer to establishing bottling
facilities in Myanmar but said reports the company had been given
approval to set up factories were premature.
Myanmar-language
news journal The Yangon Times reported on January 7 that Coca-Cola had
been given the green light on December 28 by the Myanmar Investment
Commission to set up four bottling plants in Myanmar.
However, a Coca-Cola spokesperson told The Myanmar Times on January 9 that a deal is still being finalised.
“The
Coca-Cola Company applied to the Myanmar Investment Commission for a
Foreign Investment Licence. Discussions with the MIC continue to
advance, with some further steps still required to complete the
process,” said Karen Thompson, public relations and communications
director for Coca-Cola Myanmar.
Although imported for decades,
Coca-Cola made the first official shipment of its products to Myanmar in
60 years on September 10, 2012. As the world’s largest soft drink
manufacturer and one of the world’s most recognisable brands,
Coca-Cola’s return to Myanmar received considerable media coverage.
Coca-Cola
chairman and CEO Muthar Kent was on hand for the event, posing with a
thanaka-wearing shopkeeper and a case of the beverage.
At the
time Coca-Cola said that it was working towards establishing a bottling
facility with Myanmar’s Pinya Manufacturing Co Ltd. Pinya produces the
popular Max and Max Plus line of soft drinks and distributes them
nationally.
“The prospective collaboration aims to bring the best
of Coca-Cola’s global system business practices to Myanmar and leverage
existing local business talent and market insights. The intent is to
commence local production as soon as possible, building on an initial
distribution agreement established with Pinya to make product available
throughout the country immediately,” said a press release from Coca-Cola
on September 10.
A senior official at Pinya declined to comment on the bottling facility deal because talks are ongoing.
A
statement posted on the website of President U Thein Sein’s Office on
September 6 projected Coca-Cola would make a US$100 million investment
in Myanmar that would create roughly 2000 jobs within the country.
A
Coca-Cola representative did not confirm the exact figures but did say:
“Our intent is to invest significant capital over the coming years,
generating thousands of jobs.”
source: The Myanmar Times
http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/business/3765-coca-cola-denies-done-deal-on-plants.html
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