According to a recent released statistics, 38.68 million litres of soft drinks were sold in Nigerian in 2016.
This was disclosed by Mrs. Martina Claus, Head of Market Development, German Engineering Federation, on Wednesday at the ongoing Third International Trade Exhibition on Agrofood, Plastics, Printing and Packaging in Lagos.
She said that the statistics on soft drinks sales were sourced from Euromonitor International, a global market Intelligence publisher.
With 38.68 million litres of soft drinks sold in Nigeria, “This puts Nigeria behind only the United States (114.75), China (88.18) and Mexico (45.30) in the top markets ranking.
“Also, 1.98 million litres of alcohol was sold in Nigeria in 2016, while the total volume of milk products sold was 147 tons.
“Nigeria’s fast-growing population brings with it a continuing demand for soft drinks, especially as the climate is quite hot.
“Urbanisation also drives demand for ready to drink soft drinks amongst busy, on-the-go consumers.
“Lack of potable water is largely responsible for the consumption of 36.08 million litres of bottle water in 2016,’’ Claus said.
She noted that the Nigerian food and beverage sector remains viable for investment in spite of the challenges of high energy costs and volatile raw material prices.
Claus said that one of the avenues to increase investment in the sector was through the Drinktec Trade Fair for the beverage industry and liquid food industry.
She said that this would take place in Munich, Germany from Sept 11 to Sept 15.
The event is expected to attract no less than 1,600 exhibitors from over 70 countries and more than 70,000 trade visitors from across the world.
Mr. Ahmed Omar, the Executive Director, Nigeria Institute of Packaging, said that there was need for Nigerians to harness the huge opportunities that exist in the food and beverage industry.
He urged small and medium scale businesses to work together on how to service, package and supply raw materials to the bigger companies in the global market in order to maximize their gains.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that over 100 leading technology exhibitors from 20 countries are taking part in this year’s exhibition that will end on March 30.
The exhibitors are from Austria, Benin, Brazil, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Italy, Kenya, Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Togo, Turkey and the United Kingdom
A very informative platform.
Informative indeed. But it would have been better if the scope of the info extends beyond drink beverages to food and other beverages.