Juice brands make merry

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: The Rs 7,500-crore carbonated soft drink industry might be fighting a pitched battle against charges that colas sold in India contain higher-than-permitted levels of pesticides, the non-carbonated beverages market is the cynosure of everyone’s attention. The last time that the pesticides-in-colas controversy surfaced in 2003—based on a study by New Delhi’s Centre for Science and Environment, the same organisation that has come out with the same charges this time —the consumption of Coca Cola and Pepsi, the dominant colas, as also other aerated drinks tumbled as families switched to juices, that are perceived to be healthier.

The major gainers this time around are likely to be leaders in the Rs 150-crore juices industry: Dabur Foods’ Real brand that owns 57% of the organised market and Pepsi’s Tropicana, which accounts for a little over quarter of the market, according to industry sources. New entrants such as Mohan Meakin that retails juices under the Gold Coin brand, Seebuckthorn Indage’s Leh Berry and Coco Joos from Rittal Impex will benefit as the fruit juices market grows 20%-25% annually.

About 90% of the fruit juices market in India is unorganised with the dominant supplier being the ubiquitous street-side vendor who sells fresh fruit juices. The remaining tenth of the market is addressed by the organised sector through packaged juices that use the pasteurisation process, a time and temperature-controlled heat treatment to destroy microbes. Yet, fruit juices are only a fraction of the bigger fruit-based drinks market—a la Slice, Frooti and Coolers— which accounts for nearly Rs 600-crore sales and is growing faster. For the record, juices have 85% pulp content or concentrate, fruit nectar 35% and fruit-based drinks have about 16% pulp content.

Says Sanjay Sharma, GM sales and marketing, Dabur Foods: “In the last few years the juice segment has been seeing a steady growth driven by increase of health consciousness among consumers. The growth is at 45% in the fruit drinks segment while the juices segment is expanding at over 30% per annum. With rising popularity of fruit juices, this category holds a lot of promise for new entrants as this would help expand and grow the category faster by attracting more consumers.” Dabur’s Coolers fruit-based beverage is positioned as a summer drink and is currently available in four variants: aampanna, watermelon-mint, lemon barley and rose litchi.