FDBusiness.com

The rising popularity of still juice drinks in Russia is expected to continue past 2012, according to the latest research from Canadean. Consumption of still juice drinks skyrocketed in 2012 as large producers continued to switch to producing juice drinks with lower juice content. At the same time consumer demand for ‘lighter’ juice drinks increased. Following a downturn during the economic crisis, the market set a new consumption high in 2010 and has continued to build year on year.

In Russia still drinks have traditionally had a much lower share of the market than higher juice content drinks. However, the tables are starting to turn with 100% juice drinks falling out of favour. Consumption in 2012 reached its lowest in 10 years. The larger nectars market has held up better than juice, but has also experienced a downturn over the last 3 years.

The key reason for the fall in volume of juice and nectars, and the rise in sales of still drinks, is producers reformulating their products with lower juice content to reduce costs. The expansion of still drinks has also been helped by consumers moving to ‘lighter’ still drinks which are perceived as being less sugary.

The still drinks flavour mix in Russia has started to change dramatically, with the traditional berries segment losing share to the rising apple and orange flavours. In 2012, the leading individual flavour became orange, replacing cherry, after tripling in volume in just one year. Pear is also starting to be a contender and aloe drinks are emerging.

Another development worth noting is the increase in imported products as the category has expanded. Previously imported still drinks were mainly fruit or berry flavoured, but aloe drinks have significantly increased in popularity since 2011.