The soft drink market is transforming against the backdrop of the popularization of a healthy lifestyle and the introduction of excise tax on sugar-containing drinks. According to VTB and the analytical service Prodazhi.rf (First OFD, part of the VTB Group), at the beginning of summer, the consumption of juices and nectars fell by 5%, kvass became drunk more often by 20%, the popularity of fruit drinks, compotes and kissels increased by a quarter.
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According to the results of June, the demand for fruit drinks, kissels and compotes increased by 26%. Russians drank more than 5.7 million packages of natural drinks for 440 million rubles. A positive consumption trend has been observed since the beginning of the year: since January, purchases of berry-containing drinks have increased by 1.5 times from 3.5 million units to 5.7 million units in June.
Kvass is in constant demand in the summer: in the first summer month, people quenched their thirst with it 20% more often than in June last year, and 750 million rubles were spent on it. Its share in the total volume of soft drinks exceeded 5% for the first time in a long time.
Russians' interest in juices and nectars is noticeably declining. Their share in the total volume has fallen by 2 percentage points to 15% since June last year. In the first month of summer, Russians purchased 23 million packages, which is 1.1 million less than in the same period in 2023.
In terms of consumption volumes, carbonated drinks are still the leaders in Russia, second only to water. In June alone, 3.9 billion rubles were spent on carbonated drinks. More often, Russians drink only water: almost 50 million bottles of water were purchased in June through the terminals of the First OFD for 3.2 billion rubles. The share of carbonated drinks in total volumes remains the same and amounts to 28.4%. Another third – 31.5% – is accounted for by water.
Demand for iced tea, coffee and energy drinks remained almost unchanged, with growth of 2% and 1%, respectively, compared to last year, and consumption volumes of 10.3 million units and 15.7 million units.
"The popularization of a healthy lifestyle is forming new trends in the soft drinks market. More and more Russians prefer traditional Russian kvass, mors, and compote. Analysis of data from the Sales.RF service shows an increase in demand for conditionally natural drinks — mors, kissels, compotes — by 26% in June of this year alone compared to the same period in 2023. The share of such drinks in the total volume is also growing — from 3.2% to 3.6% ," said Alexandra Krasovskaya, head of sales for the analytical service Sales.rf .
