Coca-Cola Enterprises expects syrup prices to go up

<p>Coca Cola Enterprises Inc. expects the price it pays Coca-Cola Co. for concentrate, the common syrup it places in its beverages, to rise 2 percent in North America and 2.4 percent in Europe.</p><p>The estimates from CCE are based on existing contracts it has with Coke and are based on the companys current expectations for 2003, which it reiterated earlier Wednesday.</p><p>Coke and CCE, its largest U.S. bottler, are in negotiations to revamp the pricing structure for concentrate in the U.S.</p><p>We have a lot of work to do, but we hope to have something in place by midyear, but that might be a little ambitious, said Lowry Kline, chairman and chief executive of the Atlanta-bottler, at an analyst meeting in New York on Wednesday.</p>