No Added Sugar, Affordability Driving Juice Demand in the Middle East

Obesity is on the rise in the Middle East based on studies covering over 700,000 participants, despite initiatives to combat the situation such as Saudi Arabia’s Health Food Strategy in 2019 and ‘sin taxes’ on multiple food and beverage items including soft drinks and energy in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman.  Sugar overconsumption has long been determined as one of the main culprits for this.

Amid rising health consciousness and ‘sin taxes’, consumers are now turning to fruit juices with no added sugar.  In addition to health and sugar reduction, products prices have been very important factor under consideration by consumers in the region, given that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast a high 13.9% inflation rate for overall Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region for 2022.