Mrs Martina Claus, Head of Market Development, German Engineering Federation, on Wednesday said Nigeria ranked fourth globally in the volume of soft drink sales recorded in 2016.

Claus spoke at the ongoing Third International Trade Exhibition on Agrofood, Plastics, Printing and Packaging in Lagos.

She said that the statistics on soft drinks sales were sourced from the Euromonitor International, a global market intelligence publisher.

The market developer said the statistics showed that 38.68 million litres of soft drinks were sold in Nigeria in 2016.

“This puts Nigeria behind only the United States (114.75), China (88.18) and Mexico (45.30) in the top markets ranking.

“Also, 1.98 million litres of alcohol was sold in Nigeria in 2016, while the total volume of milk products sold was 147 tons.

“Nigeria’s fast-growing population brings with it a continuing demand for soft drinks, especially as the climate is quite hot.

“Urbanisation also drives demand for ready to drink soft drinks amongst busy, on-the-go consumers.

“Lack of potable water is largely responsible for the consumption of 36.08 million litres of bottle water in 2016,’’ Claus explained.

According to her, the Nigerian food and beverage market remains viable for investment in spite of the challenges of high energy cost and volatile raw material prices.

Claus said that one of the avenues for attracting prospective investors was the Drinktec Trade Fair for the beverage and liquid food industry.

She said that this would take place in Munich, Germany from Sept. 11 to Sept. 15.

Claus said that the event was expected to attract no fewer than 1,600 exhibitors from over 70 countries and more than 70,000 trade visitors from all over the world.

Also, Mr Ahmed Omar, the Executive Director, Nigeria Institute of Packaging, said that there was need for Nigerians to take advantage of the huge opportunities provided by the food and beverage industry.

Omar urged small and medium scale businesses to collaborate on how to source, package and supply raw materials to big players in the global market in order to maximise their gains.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that over 100 leading technology exhibitors from 20 countries are participating in the ongoing exhibition billed to end on March 30.

The exhibitors are from Austria, Benin, Brazil, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Italy, Kenya, Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Togo, Turkey and the United Kingdom.