The Singaporean beverage industry volume declined by 4.2% owing to declines across all sectors in Q4 2020, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s report, ‘Singapore Beverages Consumption Trends and Forecasts Tracker, Q4 2020 (Dairy and Soy Drinks, Alcoholic Drinks, Soft Drinks and Hot Drinks)’, reveals that volumes in the alcoholic drinks sector declined the most. Strong declines in beer and cider volumes dragged down the volumes in alcoholic drinks.

Soft Drink volumes fell by 3.5% in Q4 2020 on Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) basis, with a strong decline in iced/RTD coffee, a niche category. Even mainstream categories such as packaged water, carbonates, and still drinks saw their volumes fall while iced/RTD tea and juice categories made small gains in the same period.

Anjali Singh, Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, says: “Gains in white milk, flavored milk, and drinking yogurt categories could not offset the strong losses in evaporated milk, condensed milk, and soymilk categories, dragging down the overall dairy drink volumes by 2% in Q4 2020, over the last quarter of 2019.”

Hot Drinks also lost volumes, with all its categories – hot coffee, hot tea, and other hot drinks posting declines.

Ms Singh concludes: “With the global recovery on-track, Singapore is set to see a gradual resurgence in economic activity thereby boosting consumer confidence and spending. As such, beverage volumes are set to revive in on-premise channels, benefiting the country’s beverage market.”