Non-sugar drinks growing fast, says Coke

BEVERAGES supplier Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) says sugarless or low-sugar drinks are outpacing growth in the sales volumes of drinks containing more sugar.

"Low and no-sugar beverages continue to be a high growth path of our portfolio, growing at over three times the rate of sugar beverages in 2012," CCA's managing director of Australasia, Warwick White, said during a market briefing on CCA's annual financial results on Tuesday.

"In Australia, we have more than 250 low and no-sugar SKUs (stock keeping units), representing over one third of our volume."

Mr White's comments came after the Australian government's Dietary Guidelines Working Committee on Monday recommended that consumers limit their intake of foods containing saturated fat, added salt, added sugars and alcohol.

Foods and drinks containing added sugars included confectionary, sugar-sweetened soft drinks and cordials, fruit drinks, vitamin waters, energy and sports drinks.

The dietary guidelines said frequent consumption of foods and drinks high in added sugars was a major risk factor in tooth decay.

Furthermore, there was strengthened evidence of an association between intake of sugar-sweetened drinks and risk of excess weight gain.

Mr White said Coca-Cola Amatil was in a very good position to take advantage of a movement towards less sugar consumption.

"We have been investing ahead of the curve in those products for the last decade and accelerating that in 2012," he said.

"From a community standpoint, we are going to be continuing to work, not only by ourselves but with the industry, to educate consumers about what calorie intake they should have and what are in products.

"We're going to be going after that and focusing on that more on 2013."

Mr White said it was a matter of educating consumers to make better choices.

"What we don't think is right is labelling some products good and some products bad because quite often there is a lot of greyness in that."

Mr White said sales volumes of Coke Zero had grown by 12 per cent in 2012.

"Diet Coke and Coke Zero now represent close to a third of Coke volumes, a near doubling of non-sugar share since the launch of Coke Zero in 2006," he said.

Lightly sparkling water under the Mount Franklin brand had grown volumes by more than 50 per cent, driven by the "Cozi" range of drinks promoted by model Jennifer Hawkins.

Mr White also said demand for portion control packs was growing by 30 per cent per annum.

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