Beverage manufacturing: 2025 FCC Food and Beverage Report

Beverage manufacturers faced a challenging year in 2024 as many consumers pulled back on discretionary spending, while substituting away from alcohol in favour of low or non-alcoholic beverages. Growth in soft drink sales in 2024 couldn’t overcome the downward pressure from alcoholic beverage sales. Overall sales fell -1.7% while volumes (that is, sales adjusted for inflation) fell -7.0% (Figure 1). In fact, volumes sank last year to 2018 levels, wiping away gains during the pandemic.

For 2025, FCC Economics forecasts a further decline in sales of -2.5% and -2.6% in volumes. The anticipated decline is driven by a continued shift away from alcoholic beverages, particularly beer, and a slight slowdown in non-alcoholic beverage sales after four years of strong growth.