Soft drinks winning global drinks race

Following yesterday’s relaunch of the globaldrinks.com online database from leading food and drink industry consultancy Zenith International, further details show soft drinks winning the global drinks consumption race and rapidly widening the gap ahead of hot drinks.

Over the ten years to 2013, consumption of hot coffee, hot tea and other hot drinks rose by 36% to 618 billion litres according to globaldrinks.com

Soft drinks, however, advanced by as much as 59% and surged past the 700 billion litre mark in 2013. The globaldrinks.com database covers 15 soft drinks categories including bottled water, carbonates, dilutables, energy drinks, fruit juice, functional drinks, iced coffee, iced tea and sports drinks.

The markets for alcohol and milk drinks are also growing, but at a lower level and from a lower volume base.

Beer, spirits, wine and other alcoholic drink sales for the 72 countries analysed have increased by 30% since 2003 to almost 250 billion litres.

Milk and flavoured milk are following close behind, achieving 24% growth over the ten years.

“Alcohol became the third biggest category by consumption volume in 2005, when it overtook milk,” commented Zenith Chairman Richard Hall.

“Milk, however, is predicted to grow slightly faster than alcohol and their rankings could well change again by 2020,” he concluded.

globaldrinks.com provides instant online access to consumption volumes, growth rates, charts and forecasts for 24 beverage categories across alcohol, hot drinks, milk and soft drinks for 72 countries from 2002 to 2018. Go to www.globaldrinks.com or contact Zenith International on tel +44 (0)1225 327900, e-mail info@zenithinternational.com.

Notes for Editors

1. A chart is attached for publication.

2. For further information, please contact:

Richard Hall or Nick Crossland, Zenith International Ltd
7 Kingsmead Square, Bath BA1 2AB, United Kingdom
t +44 (0)1225 327900, f +44 (0)1225 327901