Report says European soft drink market struggling

BASINGSTOKE, England Soda companies have been struggling with the poor U.S. economic conditions, but they’re not facing pressure from this continent alone. European soft drink sales are drastically falling, and many industry stakeholders are questioning the category’s stability, according to a new, 2008 third quarter review, published by beverage researcher Canadean.

Western Europe showed a 1 percent increase over last year in the soft drink category, and Canadean predicts the worst is yet to come for the Western European market, with the exception of the Netherlands and Norway. France showed a 1 percent decrease in the soft drink market; the UK, a 2 percent decrease; and Denmark, a whopping 6 percent decrease, with the country’s market officially in recession and soft drinks less popular than ever.

Eastern Europe isn’t dragging quite as much as its next-door neighbor. Third quarter numbers showed a 2 percent increase, with Canadean predicting a 3 percent increase for end-of-year results.  Poland and Romania fared better than most, with a double-digit boost, though Russia suffered a 7 percent drop.

According to the market, this is most likely not the beginning of the end, despite the fact that the market is anything but thriving. “The Soft Drinks market has achieved substantial growth over a long period of time. Despite the severity of the present economic situation Soft Drinks markets have not collapsed or declined to the extent that some other industries have. The expectation is that the soft drinks industry will recover as, and when, economies recover,” the report said.