Increasing soft drink sales drive new launches
suggests that it is Asia that is the driving force behind market
growth. With this in mind we take a look at the latest soft drinks
launches in the region from the Mintel databases.
The report, published in March this year, said that global consumption of soft drinks now runs at 327 billion litres a year, a figure that was up 5.7 per cent on 2002. North America continues to be the largest market by volume, but sales in Asia are said to be rapidly catching up as the US market continues to stagnate.
Although per capita consumption in Asia still runs at 22 litres a year - roughly one third of the global average - the report highlights that this is the market with the fastest growth in volume sales. Among major soft drinks markets in the region, China, India and Indonesia have demonstrated the most robust growth in the last couple of years.
Following on from the tremendous growth in soft drinks, the Asia Pacific has witnessed a rash of increasingly diverse and sophisticated launches in this segment. We start off in Vietnam with Yee Lee Trading Pop Lemon launch. The 325ml can contains a carbonated lemon flavour drink, not dissimilar to lemonade, that will retail on the market for €0.44 when it is launched later this month.
In China Wang Wang is launching a Lemon Tea Flavour Soda which is aimed at the teenage and young adult market. The 250ml cans are decorated with distinctive cartoon characters that are bright and make the can both distinctive and easily identifiable. The drink is flavoured with cala gum, edible essence and caramel and will retail for €0.26.
Coca-Cola and Nestle are launching Schweppes branded Cream Soda in Hong Kong. Containing eight aluminium cans the packs are expected to retail for €2.51 when they are launched this month. This is a relaunch of an existing brand, with the company aiming to increase its bulk sales at supermarkets and discount stores.
In Malaysia Permanis is launching the well known Miranda brand in a Lemon flavoured 1.5 litre format. Retailing at €0.56, the PET plastic bottle is decorated with a sleeve label that depicts the brand name and a citrus fruit. Permanis is the Malaysian bottler and distributor for PepsiCo beverages.
This range of soft drink products is part of a selection from Mintel's Global New Product Database.
