Since the beginning of 2025, prices for soft drinks may increase by an average of 9% to 15%, depending on the category. Six manufacturers and distributors, including Chernogolovka, Sadi Pridnestrovie, and Borjomi, notified retailers about this, citing an increase in excise taxes on sugar-containing products and increasing costs since the new year.
Kommersant has received notifications sent to retailers by six manufacturers of soft drinks. They talk about an increase in selling prices for products, including water, soda, sodas and juices, from the beginning of 2025. So, since January 1, Sady Pridonye and Rychal-su have been raising prices for their drinks, since January 15 — Chernogolovka and Market-Trade LLC (distributor), and since February — Multon Partners and Borjomi. An interlocutor of Kommersant from a large retail chain confirmed this information and added that most of all manufacturers raise prices for soda. The companies did not provide any comments.
As follows from the letter from Moulton Partners (formerly Coca-Cola HBC; Dobry Juice), the company will raise prices for non-alcoholic products by an average of 9.1%: in particular, the increase for juices will be 9.3%, for coffee — 11.3%.
The company writes to retailers that such an increase is due to an increase in the price of packaging by 6-8.5% this year, raw materials for beverages, as well as an increase in the market value of coffee beans: arabica — by 28%, robusta — by 66%. Multon also cites rising costs for trucking, equipment maintenance, and utility indexing as reasons.
Rychal-su (which produces water and a drink of the same name under the Mever brand) notifies the network of a 15% increase in selling prices. Depending on the region, the increase may be higher. In addition to the increase in production costs, the company cites high inflation and the weakening of the ruble as arguments. Borjomi cites, among other reasons, the high key rate of the Central Bank (21% at the end of 2024) and the rising cost of warehouse, production and logistics personnel.
Among the arguments of Market Trade for the indexation of wholesale cost is an increase in excise taxes on non-alcoholic sugar—containing beverages. In October 2024, the State Duma approved an increase in excise taxes on such products from January 2025, including on sugary drinks — from 7 rubles to 10 rubles per liter.
The Soyuznapitki Association (which unites large producers of juices, water, and carbonated drinks) says that the increase in the cost of products occurs as part of general inflationary processes.
At the end of November 2024, according to Rosstat, annual inflation increased by 8.88% against 8.54% at the end of October. At the same time, the association is aware that a sharp increase in the cost of drinks may lead to a decrease in sales.
Prices for soft drinks are quite inelastic, and consumers usually react negatively to their changes, agrees Alexey Voinov, director of Aqua-White. Although the expert does not consider a 9-15% increase to be critical for the market, in the short term it may negatively affect the consumption of such drinks, since they are not included in essential products. In addition, customers in this market segment do not have very high brand loyalty, he notes.
The Ministry of Agriculture told Kommersant that the domestic market is fully supplied with soft drinks and a wide range of products in different price categories is presented on the shelves. According to the ministry, in January—October 2024, 875 million barrels of such products were produced, which is 8.3% more year-on-year.
According to calculations by the Nielsen analytical company, from November 2023 to November 2024, natural sales of soft drinks as a whole increased by 9%, monetary sales — by 23.1%. The fastest growing category was chilled juices — their physical sales increased by 25.3%, sales of energy drinks — by 15.1%, water — by 12.2%, smoothies — by 10.6%, juices — by 9.6%, iced tea — by 8.7%, kvass — by 8.3%, carbonated drinks — by 2.2%.
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