No Dasani for Zimbabwe

Dasani, Coca-Cola's premium brand of bottled water, has announced it will not be entering into Zimbabwe's bottled water market. Instead the manufacturer will focus on marketing the current Schweppes still water brand.

"We have a lot of equity in Schweppes. We are still working on Schweppes water. It is a top quality product and Schweppes has done a lot of investment in that product," said an official.

Dasani, which was launched into Africa in 2003 and is currently available in South Africa, Angola, Nigeria and Ghana, would have been Coca-Cola's second major product offering in Zimbabwe after Coke Light.

Originally launched in the US in 1999, as a response to rival PepsiCo's Aquafina, the product is marketed as a "healthy lifestyle product with zero calories". Sourced from the local tap supply, the water is passed through three filters intended to extract particles, organic debris and chlorine, before being processed through the last stage known as reverse osmosis. 'Dasani', roughly translated from Ancient Hebrew, means 'bag of water'.

Other major bottled water manufacturers in Zimbabwe include Delta Beverages, Dairibord and Cairns.

Source: The Financial Gazette