By Andy Young
A Canadean market report has claimed that cider will grow by around five per cent a year over the next five years, driven by growth in Australia, the United States and South Africa.
The report says that an additional 640 million litres of cider will be consumed worldwide, up from 2.4 billion in 2014 to three billion litres in 2020. It adds that while the UK will remain the largest single market for cider consumption, the country's overall share will decline from 41 per cent to 33 per cent.
According to Canadean, growth will be strong in the Australian cider market, with an average annual growth rate of 12 per cent between 2015 and 2020.
Rakhee Sturgess an analyst at Canadean said: "Super premium fruit flavours of Scandinavian cider brands like Kopperberg and Rekorderlig are driving the increased consumption in Australia. But growth is also caused by the introduction of mass market brands like Somersby at a far lower price point than typical branded ciders."
The report adds that "craft ciders are also growing in popularity, with more apple producers returning to their roots and producing small-scale artisanal ciders."
Sturgess also pointed out that developments within the category will help drive growth in the US, where the market is also expected to grow at around 12 per cent a year between 2015 and 2020.
"The launch of new and innovative ciders will cause this growth," Sturgess added, "as will the introduction of cider to new regions in the US. More consumers will discover the beverage and change from beer and other flavoured alcoholic drinks to cider. Tradition and culture are important in the promotion of ciders and will increase demand for products from the UK."
The report also highlighted New Zealand as a market that will see increased per capita consumption. Canadean reported that Kiwi consumer are "expected to drink an extra 10 litres per person in 2020 than in 2015; reaching 18 litres compared to the UK's 15.5 litres and a global average of just 0.4 litres".
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