UK Water Plus Market Executive summary

Volume

The UK water plus market grew by 15.6% to reach 531.3 million litres in 2022. Growth accelerated vs 2021 (+10.7%) helping the category to return above pre-pandemic volume sales. Zenith Global Commercial forecasts that the market will exceed 610 million litres by 2027.

Value

In 2022, water plus value grew ahead of volume (+25.0%). Total value reached £601 million up from £481 million in 2021.

This was driven in part by inflationary pressures.

Per capita consumption

Total consumption per capita increased for the second year in a row to 7.9 litres per person; an increase of 15.2%.

Consumption growth is accelerating and is now above pre-pandemic levels.

Still vs sparkling

Still water plus products remained dominant over sparkling drinks:

• Still water plus climbed to 385.2 million litres, growing 13.6%.

• Sparkling enjoyed a strong growth of 21.4%, reaching 146.1 million litres in 2022.

Flavoured water dominated the category:

Flavoured vs functional vs juicy

• Flavoured water: 462.1 million litres (+16.3% vs 2021).

• Functional water: 39.0 million litres (+17.1% vs 2021).

• Juicy water: 30.2 million litres (+3.9% vs 2021).

Import / domestic production

Imports continue to play an important role in the UK water plus market despite declining by 6.5% in 2022 to 152.4 million litres.

Production showed a more impressive growth of 27.8%, rising to 378.9 million litres.