The food and beverage manufacturer partnered with Sidel to produce the bottles on two aseptic PET packaging lines, running at 48,000 bottles per hour (bph).
Brand image
The reason for the change was to reinforce its brand image and increase production speed.
The coconut milk has a 12-month shelf life without any sterilized aluminum foil before capping because the tightness between the bottle neck and the cap is safe.
"In the Chinese soft drinks market, rigid plastic is the largest packaging type in total volume terms thanks to the wide application of the PET bottle format, which is light in weight and highly cost-effective. In fact, PET bottles represent 77% of the total unit volume of soft drinks packaging in 2017, up by 6% on the previous year," said Scarlet Chen, VP sales, Greater China, Sidel.
According to Euromonitor, coconut and other plant waters were the fastest growing beverage product category globally with a 20% growth in 2016.
The success of the category is linked to an increase in consumer demand for healthy and functional hydration beverages.
It claims, while coconut water dominates the market of packaged plant and root waters, the peripheries of this category have seen a range of product introductions and experimentation.
In the context of healthier consumer attitudes, sales of 100% fruit juice, bottled water and herbal drinks are increasing, at the expense of added sugar juice drinks.
Dairy alternative
A case in point is Huanlejia PET packaged coconut milk, a plant-based alternative to dairy drinks, sold across the Chinese market.
Previously the manufacturer was packaging its product portfolio in cans, HDPE and glass and this is the first time it has moved to PET bottles.
PET is strong, unbreakable, light, transparent, safe, and 100% recyclable.
The two Sidel aseptic PET lines started production in Linyi, Shandong province, and Hanchuan, Hubei province, between March and April 2018 and are equipped with the Sidel Aseptic Combi Sensofill, applying traditional wet bottle decontamination.
They also include Gebo Cermex conveyors and automatic Pal-Kombi palletisers.
Huanlejia has production sites in the Guangdong, Hubei and Shandong provinces, employing more than 4,000 workers with an annual turnover of more than 3bn RMB.