In 2010, the market value of fruit juices in the U.S. stood at US$32.3 billion and is forecast to increase to US$33.3 billion by 2015. However, total U.S. consumption is expected to fall from almost 15 billion litres to 14.7 billion litres in the same timeframe (Datamonitor, 2011).
Total consumption of fruit juice by American consumers decreased by 20.3% between 2000 and 2009 due to a drop in the consumption of citrus juices, which accounted for 59.5% of all fruit juice consumed in 2009. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), orange juice alone accounted for 52.7% of all fruit juice consumed in 2009, which is down from 61.8% in 2000.
In per-capita terms, consumption of citrus juice dropped by 29.7% between 2000 and 2009, while consumption of non-citrus juice increased by 13.5% in the same timeframe, for an overall decline in fruit juice consumption of 16.8% (USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, 2011).
Fruit juice is consumed, on average, 98 times per capita per year, or almost twice in a two week period.
Other factors affecting the fruit juice market include increasing sales of fruit drinks, the growing popularity of fruit and vegetable juice blends, and cost considerations. Mintel notes that “fruit drinks typically cost much less than 100% fruit or vegetable juice.”
