German Engineering Federation has today ranked Nigeria as the fourth country with the most sales of soft drinks globally.

The fact was revealed by Mrs Martina Claus, Head of Market Development, while speaking at the ongoing Third International Trade Exhibition on Agrofood, Plastics, Printing and Packaging in Lagos, reports NAN.

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.