Where sales roller-coastered

At the beginning of the 1980s a train pulling 40 containers full of Rauch juices was rolling across to Italy almost every week. From there it went on by ship and then by truck to customers in Arab countries. This was where Rauch was generating a considerable part of its annual turnover at the time.

The market had developed splendidly, despite often complicated communication channels. "If we wanted to call a partner in the 70s, we first had to register the call via Radio Austria. They made the connection, if you were lucky maybe even the same day," remembers Roman Rauch

But it was not easy; many countries in this region were and are marked by power political and religious controversies. Order quantities were subject to extreme fluctuations. Wherever possible, Rauch hedged these risks with guarantees from Kontrollbank

In order to be even more independent of such fluctuations, Rauch accelerated growth on its own doorstep in Austria

The Arab states developed to become a very important export market.