Soda Sales Growth Slows Dramatically in ’99

Carbonated soft drink sales growth slowed dramatically in 1999, and analysts blamed the nearly flat performance on rising prices and the popularity of alternative beverages such as bottled water. Colas, led by Coca-Cola Classic and Pepsi-Cola, continued to account for the majority of sales in the $58-billion U.S. soda market, but they lost market share to Mountain Dew, Sprite and Dr Pepper, according to two separate reports. Soda sales volume rose 0.5% last year, well below the 3% growth in 1998 and the slowest growth in at least 15 years, according to a report by Beverage Digest/Maxwell. Price increases helped push up the dollar value of sales by 3% to $57.9 billion from a year earlier, when revenue grew 2.9%, it said. Separately, Beverage Marketing Corp. estimated 1999 volume growth at 0.6%, down from 3.4% in 1998. Spokesman Gary Hemphill said he could find no slower annual growth rate in records going back to 1980. Michael Bellas, chairman of Beverage Marketing, said average consumption fell for the first time in at least 30 years. Coca-Cola Co. maintained the largest share of the soft-drink market, although its share edged down 0.4% to 44.1%, Beverage Digest/Maxwell said. Pepsi-Cola Co. was second with 31.4% of the market, unchanged from the previous year. Cadbury Schweppes’s Dr Pepper/Seven Up unit was third at 14.7%, up 0.5%.