PepsiCo Inc, the world's second-largest soft-drink maker, will resume sales of Pepsi-Cola and Seven-Up beverages in Iraq after UN sanctions forced the company to abandon the market more than a decade ago.
PepsiCo reached an agreement with Iraqi bottler Baghdad Soft Drinks Co and will start sending syrup and new glass bottles for its beverages to central Iraq in the next few months. The deal will create 2,000 jobs over at the Baghdad bottler, PepsiCo said.
Local soft-drink makers have been selling homemade cola in recycled PepsiCo bottles since 1990, when the UN's economic sanctions prevented the company from selling drinks in Iraq.
PepsiCo's return, less than a year after trade sanctions were lifted last May, puts the company ahead of larger rival Coca-Cola Co, which is studying the market.
"It's a welcome development," said Marvin Roffman, president of Roffman Miller Associates, which owns 60,000 PepsiCo shares. "We are starting to see Western influences creep into Iraq. There is no question that there is a market there."
Coca-Cola is "exploring opportunities in Iraq," said company spokesman Ben Deutsch, who declined to elaborate.
The PepsiCo agreement also includes Mirinda, a line of flavored drinks sold outside the US The plans were reported earlier today by the Wall Street Journal.
PepsiCo, which had led Coca-Cola in sales in Iraq before the trade ban, is one of the first US consumer-goods makers to announce plans to reenter the market. Its agreement covers central Iraq, an area which includes 40 percent of the country's more than 26 million people.
The company, which started selling Pepsi-Cola in Iraq in 1950, plans a marketing program to promote its return. It's also in discussions with other partners to expand sales to the rest of the nation.
Purchase, New York-based PepsiCo's Pepsi brand is the Middle East's No. 1 selling cola, as there is an informal boycott against "American" Coca-cola.
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