Russia's Happyland Corporation, a leading producer of alcopops, has begun intensively developing production and promotion of drinks in glass bottles. Since early 2005, the company has expanded the range of glass-bottled alcopops and plans to use glass for most of its brands aimed at the Russian and other markets before the end of 2005. As part of the project, the Tver-based Happyland factory launched a new bottling line in August 2004. German KHS equipment was installed to produce 12,000 glass bottles per hour. In late 2004, the plant also installed equipment from the Dutch Fuji Seal Group, a Fuji corporation unit, to produce drinks in packages with heat-shrunk foil labels. Before the year-end, glass-bottled beverages are expected to make up at least 5.0% of the company's products sold on the Russian market and some 95% of its drinks destined for export.
