TRENDS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE

NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES INDUSTRY

Alain Beaumont
Secretary General, UNESDA

Trends of competitiveness of Agro-food industry, 15 November 2007

What I will cover today

• Snapshot of our industry

• Drivers of competitiveness in the non-alcoholic drinks

sector

• Industry trends

• Future trends

• How DG Enterprise can continue to be supportive

Trends of competitiveness of Agro-food industry, 15 November 2007

Our industry

 The non-alcoholic beverages sector covers all soft drinks including still
drinks, fruit drinks, carbonates, energy drinks and sports drinks

 Volumes in Europe are 55 billion litres

 Value some 40 billion Euros

 Key players:
• large companies eg. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Orangina Group, GlaxoSmithKline
• majority of players are SMEs – more than 1,000 bottlers in Europe with
factories employing 50 people or less

 UNESDA members comprise both national associations and companies

Trends of competitiveness of Agro-food industry, 15 November 2007

What is driving competitiveness?

• The primary driver of competitiveness in our sector today is health

and wellness
 Governments, civil society and the media are focused on the
rising incidence of obesity
 There is general acknowledgement that the causes are multi-
factorial

“..globally there are over 1 billion overweight adults – 300 million of them
obese.. the rising epidemic reflects the profound changes in society and
behavioral patterns…over recent decades…”

Teenage obesity rates are >20% in some parts of the EU

Trends of competitiveness of Agro-food industry, 15 November 2007

We are a responsible industry committed
to playing our role

“Business, civil society and government must work together to stem the
rise of obesity among our children.”
EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, Markos
Kyprianou

Trends of competitiveness of Agro-food industry, 15 November 2007

 We have acted on two levels

1. Recognised the concerns.

Our commitments to the EU Platform include:

 Stop direct sales to primary schools in the EU

 Promote choice and smaller serving sizes in secondary schools

 Stop direct advertising to children under the age of 12

 Place unbranded vending machines in secondary schools

Trends of competitiveness of Agro-food industry, 15 November 2007

« UNESDA’s commitments are
at the extreme end of
best practice".

Robert Madelin, Director General,

DG Sanco, European Commission

Trends of competitiveness of Agro-food industry, 15 November 2007

2. Innovated:

 Invested in development of new products and formulations that

meet the needs of today’s society
• no sugar
• low sugar
• fruit based drinks
• new ingredients
• emerging product areas eg flavoured waters, carbonated
juices

Trends of competitiveness of Agro-food industry, 15 November 2007

How are these trends transforming the
industry?

• Products with healthy profiles are in demand

• The sector is growing fast

 Volume of low calorie products has increased 50% in the past 5 years

• A regulatory and society environment that fosters innovation and

enables organisations to invest in introducing new products
is a key driver of competitiveness and growth in the sector

Trends of competitiveness of Agro-food industry, 15 November 2007

The role of the European Commission

• Like all industries, we need a sure regulatory

environment in order to thrive and be competitive
• The Commission’s self-regulatory approach to diet and
obesity has enabled us to:
 Act fast
 Continue to innovate and develop new areas and product lines
 Meet expectations of consumers, society and shareholders
• The Commission should promote its regulation including
the safety of authorised ingredients in order underpin
public confidence and counter dubious science

Trends of competitiveness of Agro-food industry, 15 November 2007

Future trends

• Sustainability will be a key trend for our industry

• We have long been involved in the area of packaging where we

have a role to play in ensuring high levels of recovery, recycling and
refilling in different market situations

• Reducing carbon footprint and meeting the climate change

challenge is a responsibility for all of us and our industry wants to
play its role

• We contributed to the Commission consultation on Sustainable

Production and Consumption and look forward to working together

Trends of competitiveness of Agro-food industry, 15 November 2007

How DG Enterprise can ensure that the
sector continues to be competitive

By recognising the success of the self-regulatory model

and supporting our needs in two key areas:
• Products
 ensuring an environment where innovation can flourish. In
particular that the needs of SMEs are recognised and promoted
in order that the local businesses that characterise our industry
in Europe can continue to thrive
• Packaging
 ensuring that the infrastructure for recovery and recycling of
packaging is in place. Limit barriers to development of recycled
containers and improve energy and water efficiency of refillable
packaging .

Trends of competitiveness of Agro-food industry, 15 November 2007

Thank you