No Coke, only German 'Afri Cola' at G8 summit

HEILIGENDAMM, Germany, June 9 (Reuters) Coca-Cola might style itself the real thing, but the US beverage is hard to find at the Group of Eight summit.

Journalists at the three-day meeting have instead been offered a small German rival called Afri Cola bottled in a town close to the summit venue of Heiligendamm.

Organisers say there is no anti-American message behind the decision to give prominence to Afri Cola.

''It's a regional product and we wanted to plug a local beverage,'' said Jarste Weuffen, catering manager at the media centre and agriculture marketing director for the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

''Desite its long history in Germany, we view Afri Cola as a local product because of the bottler.'' Introduced in 1931 as a would-be rival to Coca-Cola, Afri Cola has had some periods of modest success in Germany, partly due to its anti-Coca-Cola image, as well as its higher caffeine content and lower price.

But with 12 million drinks sold per year, Afri Cola is dwarfed by Coca-Cola, which sells 3.4 billion in Germany.

REUTERS SV KN0847