Azerbaijan’s beverages market posted a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in volumes by 7.8% in Q4 2020, led by soft drinks (excluding bulk/HOD water), says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s report, ‘Azerbaijan Beverages Consumption Trends and Forecasts Tracker, Q4 2020 (Dairy and Soy Drinks, Alcoholic Drinks, Soft Drinks and Hot Drinks)’, reveals that soft drinks, the second largest sector among all beverages, grew the strongest by 20.0% on year-on-year (y-o-y) basis in Q4 2020, followed by bulk/HOD water, which rose by 8.8% in the same period. Hot drinks, the largest sector accounting for 70.2% of total beverage volumes in Q4 2020, posted a moderate growth of 5.3% in the quarter.

‘Alcoholic drinks’ was the only sector which saw its volume fall in the quarter, dragged down by beer’s significant decline of 7.9% in Q4 2020, followed by flavored alcoholic beverages’ fall of 5.5%.

Monika Bargla, Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, says: “Few opportunities to socialize with friends and colleagues amid the COVID-19-driven restrictions meant that consumers had fewer occasions for celebratory drinking. In addition, the emphasis on making healthy choices to avoid contraction of COVID-19 prompted the consumers to move towards categories with more positive health perception.”

Among the soft drinks categories, carbonates posted the strongest growth of 36.1% in the quarter, followed by energy drinks at 18.6%. Hot drinks volumes benefited from strong growth in hot coffee, which rose by 10% in Q4 2020 compared to the same quarter last year. Fermented milk category posted the strongest growth of 5.7 % among the dairy drinks.

Ms Bargla concludes: “The beverages industry in Azerbaijan will continue to grow in 2021 as the government’s planned mass vaccination program kicks off, easing concerns over the spread of COVID-19, allowing return to a semblance of normalcy and benefitting a revival in the alcoholic drinks sector as the foodservice channels open up.”