Coca-Cola to cut bottle size and hike prices in response to sugar tax

Sugar tax: A 1.75l bottle of Coke will be reduced to 1.5l as the price goes up by 20p
Reuters
Patrick Grafton-Green15 January 2018

Coca-Cola will make its bottles smaller and hike its prices in response to Britain’s sugar tax.

From March, a 1.75l bottle of Coke will be reduced to 1.5l as the price goes up by 20p to £1.99.

A 500ml bottle is also going up in price, from £1.09 to £1.25, the company confirmed.

The sugar tax on soft drinks comes into force in the UK from April this year.

A spokesman for Coca-Cola European Partners said the drinks giant has no plans to change its recipe.

The spokesman said: "We have no plans to change the recipe of Coca-Cola Classic so it will be impacted by the government's soft drinks tax.

"Coca-Cola Zero Sugar and Diet Coke, our no-sugar colas, are not impacted."

Manufacturers will be taxed at 18p on drinks containing 5g of sugar or more per 100ml from April, while there will be a higher 24p rate on those with more than 8g per 100ml.

Coke contains more than 10g of sugar per 100ml with a 1.75l bottle containing 186g.

The Soft Drinks Industry Levy, or sugar tax, was announced in 2016 as an attempt to tackle rising levels of type 2 diabetes and childhood obesity.

The Treasury estimates that it will raise £520m a year – money that it says will be spent on funding sport in primary schools.

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