Palatinose - Soft Drinks International

Soft Drinks International – February 2011
ever affected carton use in these categories and
back in 2000, cartons were responsible for over a
third of the packaging of these drinks. PET, during
the same period, accounted for 19% in 2000
and now takes 46%.
If we scroll down further into the numbers, we
can see that carton use in iced teas has dropped
from 11% in 2000 to 7% in 2010, in juice from
52% to 50%, in still drinks from 19% to 17% but
in nectars it has actually increased from 56% to
57%. The impulse on-the-move size has contributed
to the erosion of cartons in iced teas, still
drinks and juices, but in nectars there is a bias
towards at home consumption and this is helping
to maintain nectar share. There is also a high traffic
of nectar exports around the world and here
the carton is a popular and practical vehicle for
exporters. Canadean anticipates that soft drinks
cartons will have increased by between 2% and
3% in 2010. Carton use is quite exposed to juice
concentrate prices, which in 2011 have risen
steeply.
Can
It is not just the cartons that have been hit by the
rise of PET in the impulse channels; the beverage
can has also been affected by PET, particularly in
the carbonates category. In 2010, Canadean figures
show that one in 10 soft drinks was packed
in a can; 10 years ago it was 15%. As with cartons,
it is unfair to look at soft drinks as a whole;
if we look exclusively at sparkling soft drinks,
then can use rises to 17% of beverages. The rise
of PET has had repercussions for the can, whose
share has fallen, though the share loss is partly
due to its disproportionate reliance on the mature
US market. As recently as 2009, almost half of all
can volumes came from the US market.
Inevitably, a falling US carbonates market
means that cans will lose global share to other formats
which are more prevalent in the developing
world where the high carbonates growth rates are
notably PET, of course. Share may be dropping,
but Canadean believes that can volumes will
have risen in 2010, albeit modestly. The buoyant
energy drinks market seems to be a key driver, as
has been the multipack, which has highlighted
some consumers’ preference for the single serve
format at home.
Conclusion
To conclude, in terms of volume sales, it was a
positive year, with all of the main formats expect-
PACKAGING REVIEW
PET has facilitated the development of the global soft drinks market.
PET is on the up in juice but it is other formats that have lost out more than cartons.
ed to have increased their sales this year. There
has been little change to the long term trend and
PET continues to eat into the share of the other
three formats. It seems unlikely that this trend
will not continue and Canadean’s analysts forecast
that by 2015, PET will have expanded to
64% of all soft drinks. It seems that even with oil
prices soaring PET will continue to make gains.
The only factor that may disrupt the longer term
trends is the environment, and we will have to
see who is able to demonstrate that their pack format
is the best and has the least impact on our
green land. ■
37
Source: Canadean
Source: Canadean
In terms of
volume, PET use
increased by 4%
in 2010.
Richard Corbett is a Strategic
Analyst at UK-based Canadean
Ltd, the leading global
beverage research consultants.
Email:
richard.corbett@canadean.com