Chinese juice producer Huiyuan has had the wind knocked out of its share price since Coca Cola's hopes to acquire it were dashed by commerce officials, which ruled on March 18 that the deal would violate antitrust law.

On March 19, Huiyuan opened at 3.99 Hong Kong dollars per share, an over 50% drop from 8 Hong Kong dollar per share a day earlier. As of 2:50pm, its stock price lingered around 4.70 Hong Kong dollars per share.

Several securities analysts shared bearish views on the stock with the Economic Observer.

Liu Ziyang, who researches the food and beverage industry for BOCOM International Holding Company, projected Huiyuan's stock price would probably fall to four Hong Kong dollars per share, the level it was at before it announced the potential deal.

After that announcement in late last August, its share price bubbled up for several months. By March 17, its price had risen 148%, to 10.3 HK dollars from 4.14.

Qiong Yanying, chief analyst of TX Investment Consulting, told EO that the twist would have a negative impact on Huiyuan as it missed a powerful potential shareholder, and that the stock risked a continued price decline.

After announcing the deal with Coca Cola, Huiyuan stated that it would focus on its upstream chain and invest in orchards.

Li Zhiqi, a brand marketing veteran, held that the blockage would put off Huiyuan's transformation. Under such a backdrop, formulating a new development strategy was a big test for Huiyuan, but it still could expand cooperation with Coca Cola in other channels, for example, by establishing a joint venture, Li added.

However, Coca Cola's failure in purchasing Huiyuan was applauded by domestic small-and-medium juice firms.

On March 18, a domestic juice firm chief said the developments were good news for smaller firms in his industry in the long run. However, he admitted they still fell far behind Huiuan in the juice sector and Coca Cola in the beverage sector, and wouldn't catch up with them any time soon.

The twist didn't seem to dampen Coca's expansion plans in China.

On March 18, Muhtar Kent, president of Coca Cola, said that his firm would focus on using its own resources and professional advantages to boost its existing brands, and would research and develop new drink products in China.

Coca Cola spent 90 million US dollars to build a global research and development center in Shanghai, which went online on March 6 this year. That same day, Muhtar Kent stated that Coca Cola would pour over 2 billion US dollars into China in the following three years.