In 2018, 460 million liters of soda were sold, showing figures from the Brewery and Beverage Association. It’s the lowest sales in ten years.
The figures show a sales drop of over 10 percent from 2017 to last year, which corresponds to 13.6 million liters. Director Petter Nome believes the border trade is to blame.
“It is very difficult to find another explanation for the fact that the soft drink sales fall so strongly when we see that almost all other beverage categories are increasing,” says Nome to E24.
He believes the sugar tax is the reason Norwegians are buying their soda in Sweden.
- “We got a massive fee hike on soft drinks by 40 percent in January last year. Norway now has the world’s highest tax on soft drinks, and in addition a packaging fee. Sweden has none of the fees,” he says.
The decline was particularly strong in December, which ended with a decline of 24.2 percent measured against the same time last year.
Norwegians, however, bought more energy drinks and carbonated waters in 2018. Sales of carbonated water rose by 14.5 million liters, while sales of energy drinks rose by 5.3 million liters.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
The sugar tax is to blame and all it really does is punish the poor forcing them further into poverty