07 March 2017

In which countries is Coca-Cola not sold?




Tamil Nadu: Traders ban Pepsi, Coca-Cola to support local products
01 Mar 2017

Traders in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu have banned the sale of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in favor of local products. The associations say that soft drinks firms take too much water from rivers, leaving farmers struggling to irrigate their land at a time of severe drought. "Drinks like Pepsi and Coca-Cola are not good for your health because of their high sugar and chemical content. We are promoting Indian soft drinks, and will encourage better sales of fruit juices."  The Indian Beverage Association (IBA) said the ban "was against the proven fundamentals of robust economic growth.” More than a million shopkeepers are expected to comply with the ban. Pepsi and Coca-Cola have not commented on the ban.

Coca-Cola opens its first plant in Burma for 60 years
04 Jun 2013
Coca-Cola has opened a bottling plant in Burma - the first time it has had a production facility there for more than 60 years. The world's largest soft-drink maker is one of the first US firms to invest in Burma following Washington's decision to suspend sanctions against the country. Coca-Cola has pledged to invest $200 million, and create thousands of jobs. There are now only two countries where the company does not do business. It left Cuba after the revolution, when Fidel Castro's government began seizing private assets, and it has never operated in North Korea.

In which countries is Coca-Cola not sold?
11 Sep 2012
After almost 60 years, Coca-Cola is on sale again in Burma. It's one of the world's most recognized brands, so are there any countries where the drinks giant still remains unsold? There are now just two countries in the world where Coca-Cola cannot be bought or sold - at least, not officially. They are Cuba and North Korea, which are both under long-term US trade embargoes (Cuba since 1962 and North Korea since 1950).

Coca-Cola's entry into any country is a powerful symbol, says Tom Standage, author of A History of the World in Six Glasses. "Coca-Cola is the nearest thing to capitalism in a bottle.” Not all countries have embraced the American-ness that seems to be embodied by Coca-Cola. It was the French who first coined the pejorative term "coca-colonization" in the 1950s. Trucks were overturned and bottles smashed as protesters saw the drink as a threat to French society. During the Cold War, Coca-Cola became a symbol of capitalism and a fault-line between capitalism and communism.


In 2003, protesters in Thailand poured Coca-Cola onto the streets as a demonstration against the US-led invasion of Iraq, and sales were temporarily suspended. Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has threatened to ban Coca-Cola and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez recently urged people to drink locally-made fruit juice rather than drink Coca-Cola or Pepsi.





Coca Cola announced plans to invest a record $4 billion in China between 2012 and 2014. It is the company's biggest ever China investment following the $2 billion it invested in the country in 2009.