The soft drink industry comprises of sparkling drinks, concentrates, bottled water, juices, smoothies, functional drinks and ready-to-drink tea and coffee. A soft drink generally does not contain alcohol, but can have up to 0.5% alcohol content. They are usually made on a still or carbonated water base with added flavours and sweeteners. This industry is dependent on the production of quality bottles and drinking packs which are used to keep the products fresh for a long period of time.

In 2010, a group of 8 countries that include France, Canada, Germany, UK, Italy, Russia, U.S and Japan had generated around $291 billion in soft drinks sales. By 2015, the global soft drink industry is expected to reach around $310 billion. Among all the above countries, the US leads the group and contributes around 43% of the market share and generates around $125 billion in sales. The US soft drinks market is expected to be more than $127 billion in 2015. During the same period, the global functional drinks market, which includes energy drinks, sports drinks, and Nutraceutical drinks, is forecast to reach more than $62,000 million, as per the data given by MarketLine. 

By 2015, the size of the non-alcoholic beverages market (Soft drink) in India is forecast to reach the $2.4 billion, as per the data given by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). During the same period, the domestic consumption of soft drinks in the country is expected to cross the 34,000 crore litres mark, which currently stands at about 17,200 crore litres.  

Soft Drinks Industry Current Trends

The global carbonated soft drinks market is expected to have a volume of 224 billion litres in 2016, as compared to an increase of 12.9% since 2011. Cola standard, which is the largest segment of the global carbonated soft drinks market, contributes around 42.7% of the total market's volume and the Americas alone contributes 51.4% of the carbonated soft drinks market value throughout the world. The Coca-Cola Company in U.S is the world’s leading player in the carbonated soft drinks market, which contributes 47.6% share of the market's volume, as per the data given by Marketline.  

Major Industry Players

Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Cadbury Schweppes are the three main global soft drinks industry players.  In US, Coca-Cola employs almost 140,000 people and sells over 3,500 products in more than 200 countries. In India, the top soft drink brands are Coca Cola, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, Maaza and Nimbooz.