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We all know that Coca Cola and Pepsi are trying to come up with a Stevia based drink. The beverage makers need the stevia based drinks to be a hit. Carbonated soft drink volumes continue to fall, with Pepsi reporting North American soft drink volume down 1.5% last quarter and Coke similarly saying its sparkling beverages were off 1% from the same period in 2013.
The rivals are particularly concerned about diet soda sales, which are now approaching a decade of falling volumes.
Turning to the plant-based sweetener stevia is a last-ditch effort by the major beverage makers to reverse the trend. More knowledgable consumers question the ingredients being added to their food and drink, with artificial flavours such as aspartame, acesulfame potassium, and high fructose corn syrup falling sharply out of favour.
It's a bit ironic, though, because it was consumer concern over sugar's role in causing obesity that drove the beverage companies to the artificial sweeteners in the first place. While the drinks were successful at one time, and pushed Diet Coke to the position of second-best-selling soda (behind only Coke itself), consumer sentiment has turned once more.
Information & graph from The Motley Fool
Data: Beverage Digest.
