Big Mart, a store in City Center, Kamal Pokhari, for instance said its sales of packed fruit juice jumped to 42 packs (of a liter each) a day. “Its sales in last summer was about 30 packs a day,” said Antim Ranjit, marketing and branding manager of Mega Mart, which operates Big Mart in Kamal Pokhari and Lazimpat.[break]
Officials at the Blue Bird Mart in Tripureshwor and Bhat-Bhateni Departmental Store also said there was similar rise in their sales.
“Still good news is we expect the sales to grow further in coming months, when temperature will continue to remain high,” Prem Pokharel, general manager of Blue Bird Mart.
With such growth in demand of fruits juices, leading departmental stores in the Kathmandu Valley have increased stock and also expanded space to stack up the packs at their outlets.
They have also added new varieties and brands. Ranjit said Big Mart had added new varieties of juice items, raising the number of choices that consumers can go for.
“Consumers can now find juices extracted from various fruits in 22 well known brands. They are available in different flavors and sizes,” he stated, adding that of all flavors - mixed juice, guava and orange juices were sold the most in the market.
However, as there are only a few locally produced brands of packed fruits juices, majority of juices stacked in their racks were imported brands.
According to salespersons at the stores, most consumed imported brands include Ceres, Berri, Marigold and Tree Top, among others. These are imported from South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia and India.
Domestic fruits juice brand that is consumed the most in the market is Real Juice, they added.
“It is true local demands of fruits juice, which has grown over the years, are fulfilled by imported brands. We are compelled to import a major portion of these items as we do not have many local products available in the market,” said Pokharel.
Moreover, traders said that they are enjoying rise in sales despite the fact that the price of imported fruits juice have gone up by 10 percent in the local market due to rise in import cost.
“Appreciation of dollar vis-à-vis Nepali rupee and also increase in transportation cost has made the imported juices expensive this season. Thankfully, this rise in prices have not impacted sale," said Khusbu Thapa, salesgirl of Bhatbhateni Departmental Store at Koteshwor.
The price of local brands, however, has remained unchanged.
Following the price hike, customers now need to pay Rs 200 per liter of Ceres juice imported from South Africa. It was priced Rs 185 previously. The price of a liter of Berri juice has gone up to Rs 220 from Rs 200.
Likewise, a liter Marigold juice has become expensive by Rs 15 and costs Rs 190. A liter of Natural, a Indian brand, now costs Rs 20 more over Rs 170 priced earlier.
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