Hongsawad.
Yangon.
Mao Qian, the local distributor for Coca-Cola, had been deeply troubled lately because Coke sales had been in a steep decline for the past month.
After all, July in Yangon was the hottest month of the year, and also the best time for carbonated drink sales.
But recently, Coke sales had been falling instead of rising, and Mao Qian couldn't sit still. He quickly sent his subordinates to investigate.
In less than half a day, several of them came running back, panting.
One of the panting subordinates hurriedly said, "Boss, we found the reason."
"Quick, tell me. What exactly happened?" Mao Qian asked anxiously.
"Huff... It's because a low-priced cola has appeared on the market. Their 500-milliliter bottled cola sells for only 300 kyat."
Three hundred Myanmar kyat was roughly equivalent to one Hua Yuan.
"What? You've got to be kidding!" Mao Qian was aghast.
One of his subordinates took more than a dozen different drinks out of a bag and placed them on the table. "These are all made by that company. Their prices are much lower than the market rate. Only some of the real-fruit juice drinks are relatively expensive, but they're still cheaper than similar products."
Mao Qian picked up a 500-milliliter bottle of Qingye Cola and looked at his subordinate, bewildered. "A glass bottle? 300 kyat a bottle?"
"Yes." The subordinate couldn't believe it either.
But the facts spoke for themselves. The glass-bottled drinks were right there before them.
Clinging to his last shred of hope, Mao Qian twisted open the glass bottle and took a sip. His expression darkened further. This cola tasted about the same as Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola.
In fact, the cola formula might have been a trade secret decades ago, but these days, practically any beverage factory could make something