Bahrain followed Saudi Arabia in being one of the first GCC markets in which the price of carbonates rose by a headline figure of 50% after three decades of stasis. The change was enacted in Saudi Arabia in December 2009, in Bahrain in January 2010.
However, an important distinction was that whereas in Saudi Arabia the price rise had been simultaneous – PepsiCo and Coca-Cola acting at the same time – in Bahrain, PepsiCo was seen to precede Coca-Cola by a matter of days. As a consequence, Pepsi and the local bottler Ahmadi Industries has been, perhaps somewhat unfairly, more closely associated with what was inevitably an unpopular – if long overdue – move. With the political instability that followed, the carbonates category has suffered something of a double whammy, from which it is slowly recovering.
The largest of the fruit based categories, still drinks have been one of the soft drinks market’s star performers, particularly in 2010, although sales slipped back in 2011. After the price rise in carbonates that came into effect in January 2010, Aujan was quick to reposition its Rani Float product at the new price point. Where pre-price rise Rani Float (in 24cl metal cans) was priced at BD 0.200, in 2010 the price dropped to BD 0.150, exactly the price point for 33cl/35.5cl cans of carbonates. When consumers appreciated they could get a ‘healthy’ refreshing beverage for the new price of a can of Pepsi, Rani Float’s sales soared, nearly doubling in 2010, contributing substantially to the category’s 25% volume rise in that year. Inevitably, carbonates clawed some volume back in 2011, but at 32.25 m litres sales are still well above what they were in 2009.