Canadean International Soft Drinks Conference
Canadean reports that, taken as a whole, soft drinks markets in western Europe marked time last year, with previous growth categories such as packaged water registering a decline.
The heady growth rates of eastern Europe are also sharply off. While total soft drinks volumes there grew by nearly 9 percent compound during 2002-2007, last year growth was down to less than 3 percent. And in the current year overall growth will probably be no more than 2.5 percent. Nevertheless, some smaller categories like sports and energy drinks do enjoy continued growth in eastern Europe, and are forecast to remain healthily positive in 2009.
Against this backdrop, speakers will debate how significant the link is, for example, between consumers’wealth and beverage consumption and how premium brands will be impacted versus own label products in the current economic downturn.
Speakers include James Quincey, President Coca-Cola North West Europe and Nordics, Tony Maher, CEO of the Russian food-to-beverages group Wimm-Bill-Dann, Erik Hertzberger, Managing Director of the juice company Pago, Axel Dahm, CEO of Germany’s mineral water company Gerolsteiner Brunnen, and his colleague from the Czech Republic, Alessandro Pasquale, Board Member of Karlovarske Mineralni Vody.
Canadean brings over 30 years of specialist beverage experience in providing answers to such key questions as
- how significant is the link between consumers’real wealth and beverage consumption?
- as economies contract how will premium brands be impacted versus own label products?
- when the business cycle starts to recover will beverages lead the recovery or lag behind?
-what opportunities are there for new beverages in adversity?
Fore further information, visit www.canadean.com.
