The spot consumption channel, which is one of our key sale outlets, was greatly impacted by the shutdowns caused by Covid-19, directing consumers to online sales channels. In Turkey, we completed 2020 with a shrinkage that was less than expected thanks to our collaboration with online sales platforms, our increased focus on the home-consumption channel, and the steps we took in line with consumer expectations. We have reactivated our Turkmenistan operation, where our production activities had stopped in February 2019 due to currency convertibility problems. CCI Turkmenistan is recovering its market share and its customer appreciation, despite ongoing currency convertibility problems, challenges caused by the pandemic, and a limited marketing budget. At the same time, undeterred by the war and political tension experienced in Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan during the year, the sudden drop in oil prices which affected Central Asia and Iraq, and continuing adverse macroeconomic circumstances in Pakistan, we succeeded in overcoming these challenges by increasing our sales volume.
Creating Value for Our Stakeholders
In 2020, we continued to create value for our customers, our consumers, our employees, and the community. We offered our consumers new flavors, and carried out campaigns, promotions, and country-specific activities. Thanks to uninterrupted communication channels, we stood by our customers and vendors, supplying free products to small businesses operating in the field of spot consumption to revive them. We took the necessary actions at all our plants to protect our employees’ health, provided training, and offered the opportunity to work remotely to those whose jobs allowed it. During the Covid-19 pandemic, The Coca-Cola Foundation (TCCF) donated around USD 3.1 Billion to social support programs in CCI’s area of operations.
Coca-Cola Turkey allocated funds amounting to a total of TL 13 million to meet needs in various areas of our country to fight Covid-19. We donated the 13.4 tons of sanitizers we produced at CCI's plants to the Ministries of Health of Turkey and Kyrgyzstan. In addition to reducing our use of resources, we also reduced costs through our approach of consuming less while producing more.
Investments and Expectations from 2021
As the second largest bottling company in terms of the size of the population it serves within the Coca-Cola system, we are continuing our operations in emerging and developing markets. Despite the challenges, our geographical range of operations offers important growth opportunities considering the population growth rate, the greater proportion of the young population, and the sparkling beverage consumption rate per person being well below the world average. Through our journey that began as a local bottling company, which is now a multinational corporation supplying its products to over
400 million customers in 10 countries, we have invested over USD 2.5 billion
in our operations since 2005 in keeping with our unshakable belief in the potential of the geographical area in which we operate. We have increased our investments in digital technology, which has transformed together with the pandemic, and which has rapidly gained importance as a result of the world's changing conditions.
We are determined to create value for our consumers, customers, community and employees, and to achieve great success in 2021. Thanks to our comprehensive risk assessment, strategic approach, and agile operations, we will continue to seize the opportunities offered by the geographical area in which we operate.
I extend my thanks to our employees, who are the crucial building blocks of the success we have achieved on this journey, for the passion and commitment they have demonstrated. The contributions made by our business partners, customers, vendors and distributors, with whom we have worked with the aim of winning together and the support shown by all our stakeholders have made this success possible. On behalf of CCI, I thank you, our esteemed shareholders, for the support you have lent in carrying CCI successfully into the future, and hope you will enjoy reading our first Integrated Annual Report.
