Nonalcoholic Beverage Manufacturing Industry Profile

Companies in this industry produce soft drinks, bottled water, and ice. Major companies include Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper Snapple, and PepsiCo (all based in the US), along with Danone (France), Nestlé (Switzerland), and Suntory (Japan).

Global sales of nonalcoholic beverages are about $500 billion a year and could grow to more than $600 billion through 2015. The countries with the highest per-person rates of soft drink consumption include the US, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay, according to Euromonitor.

The US nonalcoholic beverage manufacturing industry includes about 800 companies with combined annual revenue of about $47 billion. Low growth is forecast for the next two years. Key growth challenges include dependence on consumer spending and health concerns surrounding soft drinks.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand for nonalcoholic beverages is driven by consumer tastes and demographics. The profitability of individual companies depends on effective marketing. Large companies have economies of scale in production and distribution. Small companies can compete by producing new products, catering to local tastes, or selling at lower prices. The industry is highly concentrated: the top 50 companies account for 90 percent of revenue.

Largely because of the high costs of shipping a heavy product, US imports and exports of soft drinks are relatively low. Imports of nonalcoholic beverages account for about 5 percent of the US market; exports account for less than 2 percent of US production.