This is the first edition of a very substantive publication, the second edition of which has also very recently appeared (ISBN 978 1 84264 540 6). At just over 650 pages the title compiles statistical data from all over the world for the drink's industry, both alcoholic and non alcoholic. There is no commentary, just tables of numbers and thousands of them. Nonetheless, numbers tell a story and indicate where markets are growing or in decline. So this publication will be crucial for any person or organization trading or researching this sector.
This first edition profiles 52 countries and drinks data are classified as alcoholic, hot drinks and soft drinks. All the data appear in a spreadsheet style format. Of interest may be the types of drink categories. Hot drinks are unsurprisingly tea, coffee and other. Soft drinks are carbonates, fruit/vegetable juices, bottled water, functional drinks and Asian specialty drinks. Alcoholic drinks are beer, RTDs (ready to drink) high strength pre‐mixes, wine and spirits.
Who Drinks What is fairly well presented. There is no index, so flicking to the contents page is the best place to start. The Summary of Contents provides a cursory overview while the next page has the full Table of Contents. There are four sections in all. The first heading Socio‐economic Parameters is appropriate as it sets the context for all other consumer statistics. Key indicators are cited such as GDP and disposable income. The second section tables, World Drinks Consumption Trends, has four tables per subsection these being Volume Retail Sales, Per Capita Volume Retail Sales, Volume Retail Sales By Sector and Volume Foodservice Sales for the different categories of hot, soft and alcoholic drinks. Dates for all the tables are from 2001 to 2007 and all 52 countries are listed. Countries of note are Colombia, Egypt, Malaysia, India, China, Russia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Vietnam. In short, a good cross‐section from all the global regions.
Section three is a table of consumption rankings, from the top to the bottom of the 52 countries by type of drink and their rankings by per capita volume retail and foodservice sales. I mention this, as right through the whole volume there is a consistent pattern to the presentation of the tables as the pages move through each category of drink.
Finally in section four there is the Country Snapshots. This is the largest section of all taking up over 80 per cent of the title. All of the drinks categories listed above are tabled this time by country and not category. One criticism I would have is that there is significant duplication between some sections. A lot of the numbers in section four are repeated from the previous. So what appears to be a large volume is in fact the same numbers re‐packaged by different headings. Of course, this is not all bad, it makes the numbers more accessible and easy to find but it is important to realise. Also of note in section four are leading brand shares for the categories in the most recent year, 2007. This information is valuable for marketing purposes.
It should be said the methodology and compilation appears sound using local trade sources, press, national association and national statistics offices as well as international organizations and industry operators.
Euromonitor has been researching and publishing for over 30 years and have other publications including market analysis, forecasts and company profiles. This title is not unlike many others in similar series such as World Consumer Spending (RR 2007/129) or European Marketing Data and Statistics (RR 2004/253). Many libraries and institutions will be already familiar with these titles. For those with an interest in international data for this industry this would be a helpful companion.
