Juices and smoothies have lost almost £76m in sales as the war on sugar continues to take its toll on the category.
In the year that ‘Ribenagate’ hit the headlines, volume sales fell 2.4%, while pressure from the discounters pushed average prices down 2.9%. As a result, the category declined by 5.3% to £1.37bn [Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 6 December 2015].
Almost every part of the category saw sales fall. Smoothies, previously the only segment in growth, declined by 5.6% to £83.9m.
But the steepest fall came in juice drinks, which accounted for more than half the category decline - falling by £40.3m to £452.9m.
Health campaigners such as Jamie Oliver and pressure group Action on Sugar have put sugar reduction at the centre of the health agenda. It is widely expected that David Cameron will support a sugar tax when he launches the government’s Childhood Obesity Strategy, though the industry looks set to be given a last chance to prove voluntary moves can work.
Retailers have reacted to the political climate by stripping out high-sugar products from their ranges, while suppliers are launching a growing number of reduced-sugar and no-added-sugar versions of their products.
Most recently, Purity Soft Drinks announced it is relaunching its Juiceburst brand with an average of 20% less sugar across its core juice drinks range, and claimed 75% of the line would be no-added-sugar by this summer.
The Berry Company, which supplies juice drinks based on the likes of goji and acai, is relaunching its juice and tea range with 40% less sugar, and Ribena this month added a low-sugar Pineapple & Passion Fruit variant to its 500ml range, after extending its no-added-sugar cartons range beyond blackcurrant last summer.
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