VZCZCXRO1432
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHAH #1526 3311018
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 271018Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3806
INFO RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 5927
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 3629
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 3488
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 4169
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1269
RHMCSUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 4121
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 001526 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCE/CEN; EEB 
COMMERCE FOR EHOUSE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD BTIO TX
SUBJECT: COLGATE-PALMOLIVE IN TURKMENISTAN 
 
¶1. Sensitive but unclassified. Not For Public Internet. 
 
¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY: The Turkish Anka Trading and Shipping 
Company holds the only license for distributing Colgate and 
Palmolive products in Turkmenistan.  The group also partners 
with Turkmen entrepreneurs to avoid high taxes for foreign 
companies.  At present, Colgate-Palmolive's advertising 
throughout the country is limited.  Colgate-Palmolive 
distributors work with local and federal law enforcement to 
identify and combat counterfeit products and their importers. 
Colgate-Palmolive continues to compete with Russian and 
Turkish toothpaste, soap, and detergent, and boasts a third of 
the market share for higher-quality toothpaste and soap.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Turkish company Anka Trading and Shipping (ATS) is 
the only authorized Colgate-Palmolive distributor in 
Turkmenistan.  The company partners with Turkmen businessmen 
which means the company avoids high taxes required of foreign 
companies.  The distribution of fast moving consumer goods in 
Turkmenistan is does require some regular interaction with tax 
and customs officials, but an ATS representative claimed the 
interaction is minimal.  He added obtaining a license from the 
Turkmen State Chemical Company Turkmenhimiya to distribute 
domestic-use chemicals (cleaners, bleaches etc.) and personal 
hygiene items were the most difficult hurdle ATS faced. 
 
¶4. (SBU) According to the ATS rep, Turkmen consumers have few 
complaints about quality of the authentic Colgate-Palmolive 
goods.  Complaints arise, he added, when consumers are duped 
into buying counterfeit products.  He noted that ATS assisted 
local Customs and Police to identify importers, who knowingly 
shipped counterfeit Colgate toothpaste to Turkmenistan from 
China.  The company rep stressed that China remains the main 
source of counterfeit consumer goods to Turkmenistan. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The ATS rep complained that Colgate considers 
Turkmenistan's market too small to justify costly advertising 
campaigns which target school and university-age consumers 
like it does in Russia.  According to the rep, Colgate 
provides dental hygiene classes in Russian schools and 
universities and offers free samples to students as it 
bombards the airwaves with commercials aimed at Russian young 
people, noting that such campaigns are extremely successful. 
Today, Colgate-Palmolive offers Turkmen consumers around one 
hundred and fifty-five various products in eight product 
categories.  The distributor rep boasted that Colgate- 
Palmolive holds 30 percent of the toothpaste market for 
products that cost more than $2, and 30 percent of the hand 
soap market for soap which costs more than $0.45 per bar. 
Colgate-Palmolive's major competitors in Turkmenistan are 
cheaper Russian and Turkish soaps, detergents and toothpastes. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Colgate-Palmolive also reaches Turkmen audiences via 
Russian language advertising available on Russian satellite TV 
stations, which are still widely watched throughout the 
country.  Colgate-Palmolive also engages Turkmen TV channels 
in an effort to reach potential consumers in smaller towns and 
rural areas. 
 
¶7. (SBU) COMMENT: Western consumer goods and hygiene products 
are slowly gaining in popularity in Turkmenistan.  To date, 
Colgate-Palmolive does not deal directly in Turkmenistan, 
given the country's smaller customer base, and immense 
bureaucracy.  Nevertheless, the company's distributor seems 
willing to slowly chip away at Russian and Turkish product 
dominance, emphasizing that although Colgate-Palmolive 
products are more expensive, the quality is worth the extra 
cost. END COMMENT. 
 
CURRAN