October 22 (SeeNews) - Sales of soft drinks in Bulgaria through September rose by 18% on the back of a 20% increase in the consumption of carbonated soft drinks, industry data showed on Monday.
Consumption of non-alcoholic beverages in the nine months of the year went up by 188 million litres compared with same period of 2006, the Association of Soft Drinks Producers said in a statement. Bulgarians drank some 1.228 billion litres of non-alcoholic beverages in the first nine months of 2007.
If this growth rate is sustained, annual consumption could jump by 16% on the year to 214 litres per capita. Per capita consumption in the country of 7.7 million stood at 184 litres in 2006.
Sales of carbonated soft drinks increased by 20% year-on-year, with consumption of light soft drinks registering a 22% growth. Bulgarians are turning to low calorie drinks in big packages, industry data showed.
In the first nine months of this year, fruit juices posted a 13% rise in sales to some seven million litres.
Cold tea and energy drinks are gaining popularity as domestic production is increasing and prices are dropping. Consumption of cold tea rose by an annual 42% and that of energy drinks grew by 63% in January to September.