The second attempt of the multinational Coca-Cola corporation to enter the yerba mate market is called La Vuelta (“The Return”). The first was Nativa (“Native”), a soft drink made from yerba mate extract. It was not successful and was discontinued eight months after the product launch.
Now they are banking solely on yerba mate production. La Vuelta is produced in the (Argentine) province of Misiones. It will be sold in supermarkets and superstores in metropolitan Buenos Aires and the province of Buenos Aires in kilogram and half-kilo packages. It is already available in the provinces of Chaco, Corrientes, Misiones, La Pampa, Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz, Tierra del Fuego and various points of sale in Buenos Aires.
In 2009, before coming to Argentina, the product was launched in the Uruguayan market through Montevideo Refrescos, an Uruguayan bottler for Coca-Cola.
In 2007, Coca-Cola Brazil announced the acquisition of León Júnior SA, with a portfolio of over 60 products, the well-known Matte Leão among them.
There are various reasons behind their attempts at being part of the yerba mate universe. There currently exists a worldwide trend towards the consumption of natural, healthy foods. In Argentina in particular, 30% of the average person’s daily 1.5-liter consumption of liquid consists of mate. Argentina has become the world’s number one producer/marketer of yerba mate, as well as being one of the world’s main consumers of the mate infusion. Uruguay leads world consumption of yerba mate, at the rate of 2.2 kilograms per person per month.
Just a few years back, was it conceivable that Coca-Cola would have a non-liquid product?