China Expected to Become World’s Largest Beverage Market

Soft Drinks

In the past two years, annual sales volumes of soft drinks in China have reached more than 100 million liters. Projections based on current growth in China’s market will see China become the largest beverage market by the end of 2014.

Previous double digit growth has slowed recently, but the market is still adjusting to meet the demands and the changing drinking habits of Chinese people. The carbonated beverage market has already reached a stage of relative maturity, and is dominated by international giants like Pepsi and Coca Cola. However this market has been affected by people’s growing health awareness reflected in the gradual decline and decreased share the carbonated beverage market holds in the beverage market as a whole. At the same time other categories of beverage including fruit drinks, water and functional drinks are seeing positive growth and both international and domestic interests are keen to cash in on the opportunity.

Imported Wines  

Data suggests that China is now the world’s top wine consuming country by volume ahead of both France and Italy. The amount of wine consumed in China in 2013 was 1870 million bottles, a tripling in volume since 2007.With the governments stringent enforcement over government entertainment and discretionary spending (a large proportion of which was spent on wines), China’s wine market has changed. What has emerged is a more mature and stable market where household consumption is number one. Things like price point, marketing and distribution have taken on much more significance in China’s new imported wine market.