Experts called the consequences of the departure of Coca-Cola and Pepsi for the soda market in Russia

The stoppage of production of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in Russia has led to a sharp reduction in the segment of carbonated drinks without sugar. About it informs “Kommersant” with reference to the data of the research company NielsenIQ.

In particular, from November 2021 to November 2022, natural sales of sugar-free carbonated drinks decreased by 9.8%, and the share of such products fell to 8.5% of the market from 9.3% of the market in 2021. At the same time, in in monetary terms, sales increased by 3.6%. This is due to rising prices, Kommersant writes.

For comparison, in 2021, the popularity of sugar-free carbonated drinks was quite high. In particular, from November 2020 to November 2021, sales of such products in physical terms grew by 10.7%, and in monetary terms – by 19.9% ​​year-on-year, which was comparable to the performance of all carbonated drinks.

The interlocutors of the newspaper pointed out that this trend may be associated with the withdrawal of two large American manufacturers from the Russian market. In particular, those brands that came to replace Coca-Cola and PepsiCo primarily produced sugar-containing drinks, and they released sugar-free products much later.

After the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo began to reduce their presence in Russia. In particular, they have decided to suspend investment in marketing and stop producing and selling their global beverage brands in the Russian market — Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite and Pepsi, 7UP and Mirinda, respectively. September 2022 Reuters informedthat PepsiCo has completely stopped production of Pepsi, 7UP and Mountain Dew in Russia.

As a result, those enterprises that were engaged in the production of Coca-Cola drinks focused on the production and sale of local brands – Dobry, Rich and Moya Semya juices. The owner of the Russian plants Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (Coca-Cola HBC) changed its name to Multon Partners in July. In August, it became known that instead of a drink with the usual name, the Dobry Cola brand will appear. As for PepsiCo, it has focused on the production of the Evervess and Russian Gift line.