Market
The food and beverage industry is continuously evolving to meet the ever-changing preferences and needs of consumers. Understanding consumer behaviour is essential for remaining competitive in a highly challenging market. The current major trends include:
Liquid Dairy Products
Global white milk consumption is projected to grow at an annual rate of 1.6% until 2028, with South Asia representing half the total demand. Flavoured milk is expected to increase by 1.5% annually during the same period. Sustainability, health benefits and naturalness shape the category.
JUICEs AND NECTARs
The category shows signs of stabilisation after previous challenges, with an annual projected decrease of 1.9% through to 2028 but with growth opportunities across segments. Rising ingredient costs and the drive to reduce sugar content are fuelling innovation in functionality and inspiring cross-category hybrid solutions.
CULINARY CATEGORIES
With growing health awareness and lifestyle shifts, consumers are seeking clean-label culinary products with functional benefits, along with convenient formats, and a balance of affordability and premium quality. The category is projected to grow at an annual rate of 1.9% through to 2028.
PLANT-BASED PRODUCTS
After strong growth in recent years, the consumption of plant-based beverages and non-dairy creams has stabilised. The category will continue to grow at an annual rate of 2.8% until 2028, driven by rice, nuts, grains and seed beverage consumption in Europe and non-dairy cream in the Americas.
FOOD SUPPLEMENT AND NUTRITION
The consumer focus on health and wellness is creating strong demand for products that deliver functional benefits, with Lifestyle Nutrition and Medical Nutrition projected to annually grow by 5.3% and 6.4% respectively by 2028. Sports Nutrition products are set to grow significantly, led by Ready-to-Drink (RTD) products.
ICE CREAM
Annual ice cream consumption is projected to grow at a rate of 2.4% through to 2028. Innovations in flavours and textures are propelled by the themes of comfort and indulgence. Health trends, with low-sugar recipes and plant-based ingredients, are driving innovation in the market.
READY-TO-DRINK (RTD) TEA AND COFFEE
RTD coffee is growing, with a projected 1.3% annual growth through to 2028, driven by the trends of convenience, indulgence and functionality. RTD tea is already the third most consumed beverage globally and will grow at an annual rate of 3.2% until 2028.
Technology
Welcome to the future
of food production
Tetra Pak® Factory OS™ combines modular, scalable smart technologies with deep industry and equipment expertise to drive consistent quality, higher productivity, and lower total cost of ownership.
Tetra Pak® Factory OS™ is our next-generation automation and digital platform – purpose-built for food and beverage production. It’s an open, modular and scalable ecosystem of hardware and software that connects equipment, data and people across the factory to help producers make smarter, faster decisions, every day. By enabling actionable insights and seamless integration, it helps producers lower total cost of ownership, boost productivity and maintain consistent product quality.
A unified, scalable platform for smarter food production and AI-ready factories
At its heart, there is a single scalable data integration platform that collects and contextualises data across the factory from any equipment, making it usable at higher levels – including applications, dashboards, analytics platforms or enterprise systems. A suite of smart business applications provides actionable insights to address challenges across all areas of the factory – from production and assets to quality, knowledge and material management. A modern, unified and intuitive interface ensures consistent user experience.
“Our next-generation portfolio transforms complexity into clarity,” said Sean Sims, Vice President, Automation and Solutions at Tetra Pak. “By combining contextualised data – the foundation of effective AI adoption – with high
performing equipment automation, Tetra Pak® Factory OS™ gives food and beverage producers the confidence to act decisively in an increasingly volatile market.”
Highly automated beverage factories can boost equipment effectiveness by 20%, lower product waste by 45% and ensure 20% fewer packaging line stops compared to less automated facilities.* Tetra Pak® Factory OS™ is purpose-built for the food and beverage industry, shaped by deep production insights and supported by a strong network of technology partners.
“This is the future of manufacturing, and we fully support customers who wish to get on board, from the smallest producer to the largest multinational enterprise.”
