|
| Year |
Production
(million litres) |
UK waters
exported
(million litres) |
UK waters
consumed in UK
(million litres) |
| 2008 |
1,574 |
60 |
1,514 |
| 2009 |
1,601 |
56 |
1,545 |
| 2010 |
1,596 |
60 |
1,536 |
| 2011 |
1,661 |
64 |
1,597 |
| 2012 |
1,627 |
70 |
1,557 |
| 2013 |
1,914 |
74 |
1,840 |
| 2014 |
2,096 |
99 |
1,997 |
| 2015 |
2,246 |
105 |
2,141 |
Source: Zenith International
Between 1995 and 2015, the UK bottled water market (including water coolers), has grown from just 800 million litres to almost 2.8 billion litres.
The UK bottled water market is worth over £2.1 billion.
Bottled water holds a significant share of the soft drinks industry in the UK and sales in this country of locally-produced waters continue to account for an enormous proportion of the total. Total UK bottled water production stood at over 2,200 million litres in 2015. As a nation we now drink more bottled water than fruit juices/nectars, wine or spirits. The long term growth in bottled water consumption is testament, perhaps, to the now ubiquitous acceptance of the advice to drink eight glasses of water a day for optimum health.
UK bottled water consumption per person exceeded 44 litres in 2015, up from 26.9 litres in 2001. Zenith International estimates that longer-term growth will continue, with bottled water consumption projected to reach 63 litres per person by 2020. However, compare this with Italian bottled water consumption rates, which stand at around 205 litres per person. US citizens drank an average 67 litres per head in 2002 compared with an estimated 170 litres in 2015. There is clearly considerable room for growth in the UK market.
Consumer demands have driven the main packaging developments in recent years. There continues to be a considerable increase in the purchase of 50cl PET (both multipack and single serve) and 1.5 litre PET formats. Alongside this, growth in water coolers, predominantly in 18 litre polycarbonate sizes, continued in 2015. In 2010 for the first time the UK Governments Office of National Statistics included bottled water as an item in the standard shopping basket.
Still and Sparkling Water
Sales of still water continue to out-strip sparkling water. From around 30% of total bottled water volume in 1998, sparkling water's share has since more than halved, with still water now accounting for around 85%. Factors including declining water cooler volumes over the past few years and poor weather in 2007 and 2008, have affected still water sales overall, enabling sparkling water to stabilise its share of the market at around 15%.
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Types of Bottled Water
The latest (2015) figures from Zenith International show a breakdown by type of packaged bottled water as follows:
- Natural Mineral Water accounts for 60% of the UK market
- Spring Water accounts for 33%
- Bottled drinking waters (ie. so-called table waters) account for 5%
- Purified water 2% of the total market.
Year |
Volume of bottled
water consumed in UK (including water coolers) |
Year |
Volume of bottled
water consumed in UK (including water coolers) |
Year |
Volume of bottled
water consumed in UK (including water coolers) |
1976 20 m litres
1980 30 m litres
1990 420 m litres
1991 480 m litres
1992 520 m litres
1993 580 m litres
1994 700 m litres
1995 800 m litres
1996 795 m litres
|
1997 900 m litres
1998 990 m litres
1999 1.2 b litres
2000 1.42 b litres
2001 1.59 b litres
2002 1.76 b litres
2003 2.07 b litres
2004 2.06 b litres
2005 2.14 b litres
|
2006 2.21 b litres
2007 2.10 b litres
2008 2.00 b litres
2009 2.01 b litres
2010 2.02 b litres
2011 2.07 b litres
2012 2.14 b litres
2013 2.40 b litres
2014 2.60 b litres
2015 2.80 b litres
|
We are grateful to Zenith International & ACNielsen except where otherwise indicated for data provision..
Source: Zenith International
Some facts about bottled water:
- In the UK we drink five times as much tea as bottled water, although the gap between the two beverages is closing (2009).
- We drink almost three times as much beer as bottled water but the gap is narrowing (2009).
- UK bottled water production stood at more than 2.2 billion litres in 2014.
- UK bottled water exports amounted to 105 million litres in 2015 an increase compared with the previous year.
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