Little hope for quick relief from the great tonic water

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 RIYADH 000233 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/ARP(HARRIS) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON SOCI SA SUBJECT: Little hope for quick relief from the great tonic water drought of 2008-09 RIYADH 00000233 001.2 OF 003 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) The shelves of Saudi groceries stores normally are as blessed with food as the country's land is blessed with prodigious oil reserves, so emboffs took note several months ago when tonic water began to disappear from stores, homes, and restaurants. Initially Western expats assumed tonic was not available because of its association with alcohol. Rumors of possible causes for the shortage swirled through diplomatic and expat dinner party circuits over the past 3-4 months, with wild guesses much more plentiful than facts. However, we recently learned that the local Coca-Cola distributor may be responsible for disrupting the traditional supply lines in an attempt to reclaim the market from one or more foreign bottling companies that previously supplied the market. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) There has been widespread speculation among thirsty expatriates that the Wahhabi killjoys from the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (aka CPVPV, aka Mutawa'in, aka religious police) have been to blame for the four-month tonic shortage, or else perhaps their coconspirators in the ever-vigilant Saudi customs service. Nevertheless, as increasingly precious personal stocks of tonic water in the Kingdom diminished, econoff conducted extensive research to uncover the true story, outlined below. Blame cast on Mutawa'in initially -------------- ¶3. (SBU) When tonic water stocks began to run out around four months ago local consumers, analysts, and restauranteurs told econoff they expected the shortage to be temporary. But as the tonic drought stretched from days, to weeks, to more than a month, fear grew that the CPVPV and/or Saudi Customs was responsible. The Kingdom has a notorious history of intrusive customs inspections and of capricious seizures of goods deemed un-Islamic in the broadest sense. Although those days seem to have passed, problems remain. For example one embassy contact who imports children's birthday paraphernalia (paper plates and cups with princess/superhero imagery) said that she often has major problems importing her products. ¶4. (SBU) (Note: The real reason this contact has such trouble is that the most conservative Saudis oppose the celebration of birthdays as un-Islamic; however, the reasons Customs officers cite are typically more specific and bizarre. She said that during her efforts to gain the release of her most recent shipment from customs, she was told that Barbie (pictured on cups she hoped to sell) was a Zionist figure, while pictures of Spiderman on paper plates shooting webs really symbolized a crypto-Christian sign of benediction. End note.) Focus shifts to Schweppes -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Soon, however, reports emerged that the Mutawa'in and customs were not to blame. As Riyadh's scorching summer cooled into its torrid autumn, thirst grew, and a longtime economic section contact said the American Business Group of Riyadh (ABGR) steering committee had formed a special committee to look into what was then termed "the tonic problem." After some research, the special committee reportedly was informed that a shipment would be received "in a few weeks." Needless to say, this did not occur. ¶6. (SBU) The special committee reported to the ABGR steering committee that although tonic water is mainly consumed with alcohol, the Saudi government allows it to be imported without restriction. However, contacts say the Kingdom's market for tonic is relatively small, so it is not produced locally but is imported by a Coca-Cola franchise in a nearby country (NFI). Several contacts cited an estimate that Saudi Arabia has been importing around 40,000 cases/year. Rumors swirled in late 2008 that the shortage was due to the fact that "bills had not been paid, so Schweppes cut them off." ¶7. (SBU) After the special ABGR committee was dissolved, it emerged that the long-awaited tonic shipment actually contained soda water, not tonic. (Note: Some claim there also was a very brief shortage of Soda water, a fact emboffs did not observe and have not been able to confirm. End note.) And a strange new lemon-flavored sweet carbonated canned beverage began to appear on store shelves in Schweppes cans. It appeared to be a local product designed as a stopgap to fill tonic-bereft cups and glasses -- but tasted horrible. Unfortunately, experimentation has not yet resulted in any cocktails acceptable to Western palates using this poor substitute as a mixer. RIYADH 00000233 002 OF 003 ¶8. (SBU) Expatriates have begun quietly importing tonic water themselves, mainly from Bahrain in personal vehicles. Unlike bootlegging, which also occurs, these amateur importers say they have had no problems with Saudi customs when importing tonic in small/medium quantities. One Western embassy recently brought in 15 cases from Bahrain without difficulty; however, sources agree this is not an economical or sustainable alternative to a return of tonic water to area store shelves. Private sector Western expatriates in Saudi Arabia have for decades dabbled in discreet moonshining, sometimes with superb results; a how-to guide, "The Blue Flame," reportedly once passed around on Aramco's compounds, is even today read avidly online by Westerners in the Kingdom. ¶9. (SBU) With no end to the shortage in sight, consumers have begun researching how to make tonic water themselves. According to the Embassy health unit, quinine sulfate once was widely available in Saudi pharmacies but after the U.S. FDA issued a warning in 2007, the Saudi government removed the extract from the shelves, and now only a small quantity remains in the country at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre -- the country's premiere hospital, providing specialized care to Saudi Royals, miscellaneous VIPs, and occasional tertiary referrals from other hospitals of patients requiring specialized care. Unlike many medicines in the Kingdom, that supply is available only with a prescription. There have been rumors about Cinchona trees (Quinine comes from its bark) in the Riyadh area, which also would be a possible source of homemade tonic water. Local bottling company exec says company HQ responsible -------------- ¶10. (SBU) After several months of fruitless searching for Cinchona trees on Riyadh's diplomatic quarter, econoff met an executive of the Olayan Group, a large Saudi-based conglomerate that owns the Coca Cola bottling company of Saudi Arabia (CCBCSA) on February 3. The Executive indicated that CCBCSA has proposed making tonic water in Saudi Arabia, and the proposal is under consideration by the Coca-Cola parent company, outside the Kingdom. ¶11. (SBU) He described how the business model Coca-Cola uses around the world is to let bottling companies in a given country produce the canned and bottled drinks to be sold in that sales territory, so it had been exceptional that tonic water in Saudi Arabia was imported, while other Coca-Cola products were produced and bottled locally. He indicated, however, that the headquarters' decision on the proposal still was sometime away (i.e., months, not weeks),and no tonic water would be imported until the issue was resolved. Econoff expressed disappointment and asked if CCBCSA was worried that they would not be able to get a permit from Saudi authorities to produce the tonic locally since under the "not in my back yard" principle, it was reasonable to expect that the Saudi government might be more willing to allow tonic imports than domestic production. The executive emphasized that CCBCSA was confident it would not be a problem. ¶12. (SBU) According to its website, Olayan is in joint ventures with, or otherwise represents the interests of, many major international companies, including Xerox, Toshiba, and Burger King. As for CCBCSA, the company employs 2,000 people and operates three factories in Dammam, Jeddah, and Riyadh, in addition to 30 sales depots. Comment -------------- ¶13. (SBU) Emboffs' bet had been that the Mutawa'in was responsible for the tonic shortage. Apparently the price of bootleg alcohol in the Kingdom has risen sharply in the past 6 to 12 months, and a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label now sells for more than $800 on the black market. We interpreted the shortage of the former and the high price of the latter as evidence that the Saudi government quietly was cracking down on alcohol smuggling, perhaps aided by the country's x-ray scanners used to search shipping containers quickly and effectively for explosives, illegal immigrants, and illicit liquids. ¶14. (SBU) The Olayan executive's pessimism about the chances of tonic water returning to Saudi Arabia any time soon is disheartening to tonic enthusiasts at this and other embassies, but we were pleasantly surprised to learn that the shortage was not due to interference from the religious police or over-zealous customs officers. The path of modernization in the Kingdom has been winding and not always leading in a forward direction; however the country has progressed extremely rapidly considering where its populace was socio-economically 75 (or for that matter, 20) years ago. For example, Coca-Cola was unavailable in Saudi Arabia for many years RIYADH 00000233 003 OF 003 because of the Arab League boycott of Israel and only was reintroduced (by Olayan) in 1988. Nevertheless, the Saudi government appears serious about implementing its WTO obligations and opening further to the outside world. The Saudi investment promotion agency SAGIA remains influential and committed to its 10x10 plan of making the country nominally one of the world's ten most competitive countries by 2010. ¶15. (SBU) Meanwhile, emboffs' remaining tonic water supplies are shrinking each day, and now it is the tonic that is locked away before a party instead of the fine china or DVD collection. End comment. FRAKER