After a healthy rebound in 2021 following the initial effects of the pandemic, the U.S. beverage market saw performance decelerate in 2022, according to data from New York-based Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC). The market research firm projects that total U.S. beverage market volume declined 0.4% in 2022 however, revenues made up for that decline, mostly due to inflation, with wholesale dollar projected growth up 7.2%.

BMC found that most large mass market refreshment beverage categories struggled in 2022, with the exception of bottled water, which saw volume up 2%. Carbonated soft drinks maintained another year of positive volume performance with the category up 0.6%. Niche categories experienced volume growth in 2022; however, it was much slower than recent years. For instance, ready-to-drink coffee volume was up 3.1% in 2022 compared with 20% in 2021, energy drink volume was up 4.4% compared with 12.3%, sport beverage volume increased 4.3% compared with 5.2% in 2021 and value-added waters saw volumes up 0.3% compared with 16.1% compared 2021. In total, volume for liquid refreshment beverages were up 1.1% in 2022, according to BMC data.