FDBusiness.com

2010 saw a return to growth for the £6 billion take-home soft drinks market in Great Britain following the 0.9% volume decline in 2009. The Great Britain take-home market was up 2.3% in volume and 6.3% in value, according to Britvic, the UK’s second largest soft drinks producer.

Both carbonates and stills experienced similar levels of volume growth but carbonates drove the value growth with an impressive 9.2% improvement on last year. Within carbonates the cola, fruit and glucose/stimulant sub-categories all enjoyed growth. Glucose/stimulant again saw double-digit growth, up 17.7% on last year. Encouragingly all carbonate sub-categories delivered value growth in the year.

Nearly all stills sub-categories in Great Britain enjoyed growth in 2010. For example, squash, and juice drinks saw strong value growth of 5.6% and 7.4% respectively. Dairy was the only stills subcategory in value decline, albeit by only 0.1%.

Once again branded soft drinks drove market growth in 2010 as private label share continues to decline.

The Great Britain pub and club soft drinks market faced continuing challenges in the year, with a quarterly and MAT (to July) volume decline of 5.0%. The football World Cup failed to deliver a favourable impact, and the uncertain consumer environment looks set to continue within this £2 billion channel into 2011, says Britvic.