Cider sales top one billion pints

With latest industry figures reporting total sales are up by 26 per cent, the billion pint mark has been reached. This equates to more than 2,700,000 pints sold every day.

The total cider market continues to grow faster that any other drinks category and has accelerated to 21 per cent growth in volume terms in the off-trade.

The figures from ACNielsen also show that cider is enjoying an even greater increase of 30 per cent per cent in value terms in the off-trade, indicating that the higher priced premium quality ciders continue to lead the rise in sales.

The National Association of Cider Makers (NACM) welcomed the statistics which showed that interest in the category remains very positive for all producers.

NACM spokesman Simon Russell said: “These figures prove that the recent rise in popularity of cider has changed the fortunes of the industry for good.

“The off-trade has supported this growing interest in cider by offering their widest range of cider and perry to date. However, there is still room to offer a wider variety of products covering the great breadth of different styles of cider and perry available.

“We expect the cider market to continue to perform well as producers continue to innovate with new products and continue to invest in marketing and advertising to support them.”

• The latest ACNielsen figures for the year March 2006 to March 2007 show that cider sales have reached 2,748,083 pints a day and 1,003,050,401 pints a year.