Seventy three percent of respondents report willingness to pay more for beverages from brands with sustainable packaging credentials. PET bottles account for seventy percent of beverage bottle packaging volume. Aluminum can prices rose about twenty percent in North America.
Key Takeaways
- 57% of consumers globally reported that they read nutrition labels often or always, supporting beverage reformulation and label-driven choices
- 73% of respondents in 2024 reported willingness to pay more for beverages from brands with sustainable packaging credentials, quantifying premium acceptance
- In 2023, 33% of consumers globally expressed interest in home carbonation devices, indicating willingness to adopt at-home beverage preparation
- EU regulations require that certain food contact materials comply with traceability requirements from 2022 onward, affecting beverage packaging supply chains
- EU packaging waste targets require at least 55% recycling by 2030, shaping beverage packaging strategies and investments
- The EU’s Single-Use Plastics directive sets a target of reducing consumption of certain plastic items by 25% by 2026 (relative to 2022 as baseline), impacting beverage-related plastics
- In 2023, the global alcohol-free beer market was valued at $5.2 billion, quantifying the no/low alcohol beer revenue pool
- In 2022, global soft drink sales were $1.06 trillion, quantifying the global value of soft drinks consumption
- In 2022, the EU recycling rate for plastic packaging was 42.2% (again serving as a hard metric for packaging recovery performance)
- In 2022, beverage manufacturers in many regions reported 10%+ reductions in energy consumption per unit through efficiency projects, as compiled in the IEA’s industrial efficiency analyses
- In 2023, global container turnaround times averaged around 4-6 days in many ports after recovery, improving shipping performance for beverage logistics
- In 2023, aluminum beverage can prices increased by about 20% year-over-year in North America, raising packaging input costs
- The International Energy Agency reported that global natural gas prices rose sharply in 2022, with Europe experiencing the steepest increase, affecting beverage production energy costs
- In 2022, average global container freight rates were about 2.7x the 2019 level during peak stress periods, affecting international beverage shipping costs
Consumers are increasingly label and sustainability focused as EU rules and recycled packaging push beverage makers to innovate.
Related reading
01 · Category
User Adoption4 stats
01
57% of consumers globally reported that they read nutrition labels often or always, supporting beverage reformulation and label-driven choices
02
73% of respondents in 2024 reported willingness to pay more for beverages from brands with sustainable packaging credentials, quantifying premium acceptance
03
In 2023, 33% of consumers globally expressed interest in home carbonation devices, indicating willingness to adopt at-home beverage preparation
04
In 2023, 62% of global beverage buyers said they are more likely to purchase brands that demonstrate transparent sourcing, measuring transparency-driven adoption
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
User adoption in the global beverage market is being driven by clear value signals, with 73% of respondents in 2024 willing to pay more for beverages in sustainable packaging and 62% more likely to buy brands with transparent sourcing.
02 · Category
Industry Trends4 stats
01
EU regulations require that certain food contact materials comply with traceability requirements from 2022 onward, affecting beverage packaging supply chains
02
EU packaging waste targets require at least 55% recycling by 2030, shaping beverage packaging strategies and investments
03
The EU’s Single-Use Plastics directive sets a target of reducing consumption of certain plastic items by 25% by 2026 (relative to 2022 as baseline), impacting beverage-related plastics
04
In 2023, global shipments of PET bottles accounted for 70% of beverage bottle packaging material volume, indicating PET dominance in beverage bottles
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
For the Industry Trends angle, EU rules are tightening fast with packaging waste needing 55% recycling by 2030 and single use plastics cutting certain items by 25% by 2026, while PET bottles already make up 70% of beverage bottle material volume in 2023, pushing the sector toward lower waste and more compliant packaging strategies.
03 · Category
Market Size2 stats
01
In 2023, the global alcohol-free beer market was valued at $5.2 billion, quantifying the no/low alcohol beer revenue pool
02
In 2022, global soft drink sales were $1.06 trillion, quantifying the global value of soft drinks consumption
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
For the market size angle, no and low alcohol beer reached $5.2 billion in 2023 while global soft drink sales totaled $1.06 trillion in 2022, showing how small but fast-growing segments are emerging alongside the still massive mainstream beverage market.
More related reading
04 · Category
Performance Metrics8 stats
01
In 2022, the EU recycling rate for plastic packaging was 42.2% (again serving as a hard metric for packaging recovery performance)
02
In 2022, beverage manufacturers in many regions reported 10%+ reductions in energy consumption per unit through efficiency projects, as compiled in the IEA’s industrial efficiency analyses
03
In 2023, global container turnaround times averaged around 4-6 days in many ports after recovery, improving shipping performance for beverage logistics
04
In 2023, the IEA reported that heat recovery and process optimization can reduce energy use in industry by 5-15%, supporting beverage manufacturing energy performance improvements
05
In 2022, the EU achieved municipal recycling rate of 48.0%, improving the availability of recycled materials that beverage packaging can access
06
In 2022, global carbon footprint pressure increased; the IPCC’s AR6 indicates large emission reductions are needed, and beverage firms’ targets are increasingly aligned with net-zero pathways measured via Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) data
07
In 2023, PepsiCo reported reductions in absolute GHG emissions (scope 1 and 2) against 2018 baseline in its annual sustainability disclosure, providing a firm-level performance metric
08
In 2023, The Coca-Cola Company reported that it replenished 100% of global water used by the company in 2022 (as disclosed in its sustainability reporting), a water stewardship performance metric
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
Across 2022 to 2023, performance metrics in the beverage industry show measurable progress and growing urgency at the same time, with recycling rates reaching 42.2% for EU plastic packaging and 48.0% for municipal recycling while energy use gains of 10%+ and 5% to 15% reductions from heat recovery and optimization improve efficiency, yet carbon footprint pressure keeps pushing firms toward net-zero pathways tracked through S
05 · Category
Cost Analysis7 stats
01
In 2023, aluminum beverage can prices increased by about 20% year-over-year in North America, raising packaging input costs
02
The International Energy Agency reported that global natural gas prices rose sharply in 2022, with Europe experiencing the steepest increase, affecting beverage production energy costs
03
In 2022, average global container freight rates were about 2.7x the 2019 level during peak stress periods, affecting international beverage shipping costs
04
In 2023, global consumer prices rose faster in many regions, contributing to beverage retail price increases, with inflation rates measured via IMF CPI data (example: US CPI averaged 4.1% in 2023)
05
In 2023, Eurostat’s Producer Price Index for food, drink and tobacco (at least in some EU countries) showed double-digit increases compared to prior-year levels during late-2022 supply shocks, impacting beverage producer costs
06
In 2022, OECD reported that inflation drove increased manufacturing costs across food and beverage products in multiple member countries, quantified by cost-push contributions in its inflation analysis
07
In 2023, the global carbonated soft drinks market experienced margin pressure due to high sugar and PET costs; PET resin prices peaked in early 2022 and normalized later, as tracked by industry price indices
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
In Cost Analysis terms, beverage production and distribution costs stayed under strong pressure in 2022 and 2023 as energy, shipping, and materials inflation piled up, from natural gas surging in Europe and container freight rates reaching about 2.7 times the 2019 peak levels to aluminum can prices jumping roughly 20 percent year over year in North America.
Reference
Cite This Report
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APA
Margot Villeneuve. (2026, February 13). Global Beverage Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/global-beverage-industry-statistics
MLA
Margot Villeneuve. "Global Beverage Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/global-beverage-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Margot Villeneuve. 2026. "Global Beverage Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/global-beverage-industry-statistics.
Sources & references
25 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
+8 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)