SDI JUL09.qxd - Soft Drinks International

28 BEVERAGE FOCUS
Soft Drinks International – JULY 2009
The oldest soft
drink
still has global potential
Packaged water
will continue to
play its part in
the growth of
soft drinks,
reports Richard
Corbett.
The roots of the soft drinks industry can be
traced to some of the water brands that are
still very much alive and well today. Swedish
favourite Ramlösa dates back to the year 1707
and still carries the picture of its founder Johan
Jacob Döbelius. Popular Italian brand San
Pellegrino has been produced for over 600 years
and it is even reputed to have been sampled by
Leonardo da Vinci. Today these products are
available all over the world and according to
Global research specialist, Canadean, each consumer
now drinks nearly 23 litres of packaged
water annually. Packaged waters have played a
critical part in the birth and development of the
global soft drinks industry.
All those years ago the development of the
sparkling water segment stemmed from their asso-
Source: Canadean
Canadean anticipate still water to remain an important driver in soft drinks but not as much
as it once was.
West Europe will have a shrinking influence in the global packaged water market.
Source: Canadean
ciation with good health – even today in parts of
East Europe sparkling water consumption is still
often seen as medicinal. Back in 1707, according
to Döbelius, Ramlösa could be used to cure
scurvy, vertigo and gout, as well as trembling
limbs. The water even helped those unfortunate
enough to suffer from bad-smelling breath. In
modern times though, still waters have been the
engine behind the rapid enlargement of the category
and consequently they have taken an ever
rising portion of the market; today this stands at
more than three quarters of the category. Still
waters are a good fit with the modern health conscious
consumer in the developed world, while in
the developing parts still waters offer the security
that they are safe to drink.
The original soft drink
The success of packaged waters has contributed to
the expansion of the soft drinks market as a whole
and they now account for 29% of all soft drinks
traded globally – at the turn of the century that
was 22%. The market for packaged waters has
jumped by as much as 80% since 2000 to reach
around 150 billion litres. At the same time the carbonates
category has expanded by nearer 20% but
remains the giant of the sector with 4 in every 10
litres consumed around the world being a carbonated
soft drink.
PET - the enabler
Of course without the right packaging, the soft
drinks sector would not have got off the ground,
and in the case of packaged water, PET has played
a significant role in its development. PET has
enabled water to be consumed on the move and
this channel has been a key driver in helping sales
reach new thirst quenching opportunities. In the
Horeca channel and among premium products,
glass remains very popular; consumers associate
glass with quality but PET has significant handling
advantages to ease mobility and make it
more appropriate to a plethora of consumption
occasions. The continuous rise of predominantly
still waters has thus coincided with the dramatic
escalation in PET use. PET now makes up well
over 80% of all water packaging, a figure that is
still rising. PET seems unstoppable and it is realistic
to expect its share to continue to rise above
90% in the longer term.