Anadolu opens 6th Coca-Cola factory in Pakistan

Anadolu Group and its subsidiary, Coca-Cola Icecek, one of the most important investors in the growing Pakistani market, opened its new factory last week, raising the number to 6 after a decade in the country. Speaking at a press conference before the opening ceremony of the plant in Faisalabad, Tuncay Ozilhan, Anadolu Group Chairman, said that with the $45 million investment in the new factory, they have now reached $500 million in total investments and increased production capacity in Pakistan by 18 percent.

Coca-Cola Icecek operates in ten countries in the Middle East and Asia, and Pakistan is its fastest growing market. Anadolu Group purchased 49 percent of the shares of Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan for $77 million in 2008. Ozilhan said that its investments have created employment for 3,000 people directly and 35,000 people indirectly.

The investment in Faisalabad has provided 450 million liters of additional production capacity. The sales volume has increased three-fold, reaching 37 percent market share compared to 26 percent when Anadolu entered Pakistan 10 years ago. In addition to increasing capacity, important steps have been taken to improve productivity. For example, energy usage has been reduced by 35 percent and the amount of water consumed is down by 45 percent. Throughout the Pakistani operation, the total production capacity is 2.5 billion liters with 26 lines, 6 factories, 5 warehouses and 330,000 points of sale. “Pakistan is the second largest market after Turkey in the 10 countries in which we operate,” Ozilhan said. “The population of 210 million is continuously increasing and is expected to reach 230 million in 2025. It is estimated that 135 million of this population will be younger than 30, which is more than half of the young population in all of Europe. For this reason, Pakistan has great potential.”

Ozilhan added that the gross turnover in Pakistan is approaching $1 billion. “Here, we grow by 40-50 million cases every year. We can also build a factory in the land we have in Islamabad. Our goal is to invest more than $250 million in three years. We have also communicated a request to Coca-Cola Company for expansion to new countries. We prefer the region around Turkey,” he added.

Anadolu’s overseas operations also have a direct benefit to Turkey, Ozilhan said, noting that this year alone, the company has transferred $50 million of profit back to its home country. “None of the investments made abroad take a penny out from Turkey,” he said. “All the investments are made with the money gathered from our balance sheets. We make $150160 million in investments in Turkey each year. We will distribute TRY 200 million to our shareholders from our 2017 profits.”