“No I don´t want any orange juice”

Fruit beverages, long a staple of Americans´ beverage diet, have struggled to keep up with changes in the marketplace, a new report by the Beverage Marketing Corporation says.

With consumers increasingly turning to other categories, fruit beverages have strained to grow. Indeed, for several years, volume has relentlessly declined.

In 2007, fruit beverage volume in the U.S. declined for the fourth straight year, the report says. It fell to 3.9 billion gallons from 4.0 billion gallons in 2006. The 3.0 percent decrease in 2007 followed declines of 2.4 percent in 2006 and 1.6 percent in 2005, as well as a decline of 0.8 percent in 2004.

Fruit juices consistently constitute the largest portion of the fruit beverage marketplace. However, in recent years, fruit drinks – beverages containing less than 100 percent juice – have enlarged their share of the fruit beverage marketplace. In each of the past nine years, fruit drinks outperformed the total fruit beverage market. This has been no special accomplishment of late, as fruit juice volume has declined for seven straight years.

The fruit beverage market´s performance has been marred by price hikes, competition from other categories, and weak innovation. The relative strength of drinks, and the corresponding weakness of juice, is no doubt due to a proliferation of new fruit drink products as well as their slightly lower price points.

In the 2000s, per capita fruit beverage consumption has declined along with total industry volume. In 2007, the typical American drank an estimated 12.9 gallons of fruit beverages, down from 13.4 gallons the year before and 13.9 gallons in 2005. The per capita level in 2007 was the lowest since 1990´s 12.3 gallons.

Despite the overall decline, some sub-segments of the fruit beverage market did grow, the study shows. For example, among chilled, ready-to-serve 100 percent juices, ciders posted a strong 5.9 percent increase. Coincidentally, shelf-stable cranberry juice cocktails also posted a 5.9 percent increase. There were also bright spots for certain distribution channels in specific areas of the fruit beverage market.