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FINLAND: Waters and new natural beverages are on the rise

(beveragemanager.net) - The development of the Finnish soft drinks market is driven by the same trends seen in the rest of the world.

The beverage market is most strongly affected by the health and wellbeing trend, which is evident in the growth in bottled waters, light drinks and new natural beverages. Globalization is countered by the strong position of Finnish brands.

Each Finn drinks about 67 litres of soft drinks a year on average. Consumption is quite moderate, as in the rest of Europe per capita consumption is close to 100 litres. On the other hand, consumption of light soft drinks is relatively high in Finland. The share accounted for by sugar-sweetened soft drinks has declined during all of the 2000s, while sales of light soft drinks have increased by about a quarter.

Waters and new natural beverages are on the rise

Other global megatrends in the beverage industry are the shift from hot to cold beverages, growth in consumption of non-alcoholic beverages, the fragmentation of the market into a greater variety of beverage groups, naturalness, light drinks, health and on-the-go consumption. The changing needs of consumers are the primary driver of market development. Beverages should not only taste good, but they should also be healthy, suitable for the occasion and convenient. (bmg)