Traditional flavours – like orange juice and apple juice – have seen sales fall: by half a billion litres worldwide in 2013-2014. Global sales now come in below 12 bn litres, compared to 13.5bn litres in 2009.
The overall juice category declined 2% between 2011 and 2014. However, vegetable juices, blood orange and passionfruit, and other exotic flavour combinations grew in popularity, with mixed flavours up by 2% CAGR between 2011 and 2014.
This equates to a volume increase of 100m litres in three years (from 1.6bn to 1.7bn litres). In fact, Canadean believes mixed flavours will take a share of 10% of the worldwide juice category by the end of this year.
Asia
China and India lead the way for flavour mix growth in Asia: a region seeing growth due to rising disposable incomes.
Flavour mixes have increased by nearly 40m litres in these countries, totalling 81m litres in 2014.
The category is expected to grow a further 14% in 2015.
North America and Europe
Fewer consumers are choosing a traditional breakfast with orange or apple juice, and more are worried about the sugar content of the beverage, confirms Canadean.
Producing flavour mixes is one way juice manufacturers can reclaim volumes.
In North America the flavour mixes category grew by almost 8%, and in Europe this figure was 1%.
High Pressure Processing (HPP) uses cold temperature and pressure to deactivate bacteria, and is carried out on products after they have been packaged and sealed. The process is championed as one that retains nutrients which could otherwise be lost in industrial processing.
Cold-pressed and HPP juices allow manufacturers to sell their products at premium prices, while meeting consumer interest for high quality beverages, said Canadean.