Five weeks of rain have taken a heavy toll on soft drink sales in Hong Kong, with Swire Pacific reporting that its Coca-Cola sales in the SAR have plunged 50 per cent during the period.
Swire executive director Jim Conybeare, who heads Swire's Industries Division, said the rain had also dampened sales in Southern China and Taiwan, where Swire also holds Coca-Cola distributorships.
'Five continuous weeks of rain has a very significant effect on lowering demand,' Mr Conybeare said.
'June is traditionally a wet month, but as the statisticians can tell you, this has been exceptionally wet, it has been severe.' Mr Conybeare said the slowdown in Coke sales would come straight off the company's bottom-line profits as little could be done to soften the impact apart from a slight reduction in overtime costs.
He said the results for the month were especially disappointing as June through until September is traditionally the peak period of Coca-Cola sales in the territory.
'People are staying home. They may take one Coke out of the fridge and drink it but they are unlikely to take half a dozen,' he said.
