US Soft Drink Sales Continue to Decline

Health-conscious Americans are ditching soft drinks with sales declining the past five years, a report finds.

Sales volume declined by 2.1% in 2009 compared to a drop of 3% in 2008 and 2.3% in 2007, industry publication Beverage Digest said.

The report forecasts soft-drink volume will continue to decline by about 1.5% to 3% annually over the next five to ten years.

Soft drink sales volume slid to 9.4 billion cases last year from 10.24 billion cases in 2004, it said.

According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, the US market for non-alcoholic beverages, including soft drinks, bottled water, and sports and energy drinks, fell 3.1% last year.