I believe that all Coke originates in Atlanta Ga. as a syrup which is then exported around the world to be canned by local representatives. Here in the UK it is canned “under the authority of the Coca-Cola company by Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd.”
Why then do I sometimes get Coke canned in foreign countries? I can understand the odd Dutch can as the Netherlands are not so far away but today I just got one from South Africa! I have also had cans from Canada and one from Singapore!!! How can it possibly make sense to transport what is mostly water half way across the world? Does Rotterdam have a spot market for Coke alongside the crude oil?
Incidentally it is always just cans - bottles always seem to be ‘local’ even in the same store.
I’ve noticed something similar. Here in northern New Jersey, the cans are almost always from the New York City bottler. But on rare occasions, I do see some from Philadelphia or even a little further than that. And sometimes with the bottles also. My guess has been that (despite Ticker’s sarcasm) there is indeed a “spot market” for when a bottler has an unexpected surplus to unload.
Getting from Singapore to the UK does seem like quite a stretch though. I’d love to hear any other theories.
I believe that the Coke in Mexico is made with pure cane sugar. A glass bottle of the stuff is heavenly. I don’t know why Mexico, and presumably other countries, get the real stuff while we primarilly get fructose.
You can get the sugar variety in the States around Passover, since in order to be considered Kosher for Passover, they can’t use the syrup. If you live in an area with a decent-sized Jewish population, you should be able to find some. I found some in Raleigh, NC in 2-liter bottles and in Columbus, OH in cans.
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Satan
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Even Coke bought in northern Baja is sugar syrup based and you definitely notice the better taste. I wonder why anybody in S California would buy the cheap domestic stuff when this nectar is available just south of the border.
My official UK Coke lists sugar on the ingredients - no mention of cane or otherwise. The South African doesn’t list any ingredients at all! This is illeagal in UK (and rest of EU) so I suspect that the ‘spot market’ is actually a ‘black market’. Oh shit - no I didn’t mean that to sound the way it does - honestly.
Is the sugar/corn syrup added by the bottlers and not in the original syrup?
Others have hit the nail on the head. Mexican coke has real syrup. mmmmm. Everytime I get Mexican or s\Salvadorean food I pay the little extra for real coke
What I want to know is why the head honchos at Coke haven’t figured out that there is a market that would gladly pay more for Coke made with cane sugar. I know I would if it was readily available.
My guess re the OP is that some small retailers (the large ones probably go to wherever the company recommends) try to cut costs by importing cans from “cheaper” markets. My local shops regularly sell Spanish, Portugese and occasionally Scandinavian (I’m not sure exactly which country offhand) cans. I guess they have ties to an importer/exporter/wholesaler that saves cash rather than buying at local prices.
I only noticed as the cans in one shop I go to aren’t the usual UK size of 330ml but are 375ml with an odd “ridged” design.
Another possibility. In Minnesota, the National Can Company went on strike a while back. They are a major supplier of cans to bottlers throughout the region. It’s possible they imported cans from abroad to ease the shortage here.
I don’t know for sure, but it could be another reason for far away cans.
I was watching some kind of tele-course on economics one time, and their case study was Coca-Cola. Apparently, they were having big troubles back in the 1970’s keeping a constant cost for their products, since the price of cane sugar was very volatile at that point. Some lady developed the process to make high-fructose corn syrup really cheaply, so the story was that Coca-Cola uses whichever one is cheaper at the time- corn syrup or cane sugar in order to keep costs down. Now I’m not sure if I believe that myself, but that’s the party line, I think.
As to why they use cane sugar in other countries, that I can’t explain. I do know that Coke in the UK was noticeably crisper & better than here. Too bad it was always served in 6 oz portions with one single measly ice cube floating in it, no matter how you specified that it should be served! I finally gave up & started drinking beer most of the time!
I can’t explain the situation in countries outside the U.S. but… Here bottlers are only allowed to sell in their own assigned districts. (most Coke bottlers are franchises, locally owned)If a bottler goes into another bottlers territory this is known as “transshipment”, and it’s a civil offense. When caught, the offending bottler will pay a fine of $9-$18 per case of his soda that is found in the other bottlers area. Who gets the fine? The violated bottler does! All the soda companies use investigators to regulate this. This system was set up to prevent price fixing, but it’s too long a story to explain how it all works in detail.
But if you are in Northern Wisconsin and the soda can says it was made in Texas, you are drinking a transshiped product. What this means is that some red neck loaded up a semi full of Coke and drove it up to WI. to sell it cheaper than the local guy does. This is known as “brokering”. This is not the problem of the store you bought it from, so don’t bother pointing it out to them. One way to tell where the soda was made is to check the producing bottler mandate on the side of the can. The other way is to know the bottler codes which is stamped on the bottom of the can.
I think this has to do with the import taxes on sugar that make it too expensive (as compared to the price of fructose) to use real sugar in Cokes anymore. WAG of course.
I always just figured that it was becuase we have so much corn around, and can’t grow cane sugar very many places. There millions of acres of corn grown throughout the midwest, so I just can’t imagine that cane sugar would be anywhere near as cost effective. I’ve never heard of coke sweeted with sugar beets, so I’d imagine that it isn’ very good.
I was told by an observant Jew (they can’t consume foods with corn-based ingredients during Passover) that the Coca-Cola bottler in Waco, Texas still uses cane sugar. It’s the perfect refersher when you’re there for the Branch Davidian Memorial Barbecue And Target Shoot.
I didn’t know that about Coke and Waco, but I know you can get Dr. Pepper with real sugar in Dublin, TX. Drove down there with a friend a couple of times to get it.
