U.S. retail sales of coconut water increased to US$400M in 2011; coconut water revenues have doubled every year since 2005

Nevin Barich

LOS ANGELES , February 14, 2012 (Industry Intelligence) – U.S. retail sales of coconut water increased to US$400 million in 2011, the Wall Street Journal reported on Feb. 11.

Although this only represents a small amount of the $100 billion-plus nonalcoholic beverage market in the U.S., the revenues from coconut water have doubled every year since 2005. The beverage industry is entering the coconut water segment in an effort to increase revenues amidst flat soda sales.

The Coca-Cola Co., which already owns a minority stake, plans to acquire a majority stake in Zico, the No. 2 coconut water brand in the U.S. based on sales. Zico’s sales increased five-fold last year. Zico founder Mark Rampolla said the alliance with Coca-Cola will more than double the distribution of Zico this year.

PepsiCo Inc. acquired a majority stake of No. 3 coconut water brand O.N.E. in 2010 and is rolling out distribution nationwide.

The No. 1-selling coconut water brand in the U.S., Vita Coco, more than doubled its revenues in 2011 to almost $100 million. Vita Coco has a distribution pact with Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Inc. and plans to increase distribution to 55,000 U.S. stores by April, more than double the distribution in December.

The primary source of this article is the Wall Street Journal, New York, New York, on Feb. 11, 2012.

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