Carbonated Soft Drinks (Cola, Lemon-Lime, Orange & Flavoured Sodas in Cans and PET)

Cola, lemon-lime, orange and flavoured sodas in 250 ml and 330 ml cans and PET bottles, regular, reduced-sugar and zero-sugar

Carbonated soft drinks are flavoured, sweetened or artificially sweetened waters with dissolved carbon dioxide, declared under HS 2202.10 - waters, including mineral and aerated waters, containing added sugar or other sweetening matter or flavoured. The trade packs are the 330 ml can, the 250 ml slim can and PET bottles, in shrink-wrapped trays of cans or packs of bottles. In PET the drink slowly loses carbon dioxide through the bottle wall and closure, and one industry definition ends a carbonated drink's shelf life when 17.5% of its carbon dioxide has been lost, so the producer sets the best-before date by pack and states it on the proforma. The sugar content now drives the tax at destination, so buyers specify it in grams per 100 ml. In the UK the Soft Drinks Industry Levy charges 19.4p per litre on drinks with 5 g to under 8 g of sugar per 100 ml and 25.9p per litre at 8 g or more, with the lower threshold falling to 4.5 g and milk-based drinks brought into scope from January 2028. In Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the flat 50% excise on the retail price of sweetened drinks was replaced on 1 January 2026 by a volumetric tax tied to total sugar per 100 ml: in Saudi Arabia zero below 5 g, SAR 0.79 per litre from 5 g to 7.99 g and SAR 1.09 per litre at 8 g or more, and drinks sweetened only with artificial sweeteners are not taxed; other GCC states have been reported as still applying flat-rate regimes, so the rate is confirmed per destination. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations under HS 2202.10 total USD 15.06 billion and about 17.3 million MT across 129 reporters: Austria USD 1.91 billion, the Netherlands USD 1.31 billion, Germany USD 1.29 billion and 1.63 million MT, Thailand USD 824 million, Poland USD 700 million, the USA USD 675 million, the UK USD 636 million, Mexico USD 600 million, Italy USD 558 million, France USD 556 million, Spain USD 314 million, Türkiye USD 271 million, Saudi Arabia USD 194 million, Malaysia USD 120 million and Egypt USD 28 million. The code also covers carbonated energy drinks, so those are declared export values for the whole subheading, not offers.

The buyer is an importer-distributor, a wholesaler or cash-and-carry, a supermarket private-label desk, or a foodservice and vending operator. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers carbonated soft drinks from bottlers and canners in Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy, France, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Thailand, Malaysia, Mexico and the USA, in the producer's own brand or the buyer's private label. For third-party brands, supply comes only from the brand owner or its authorised distributors: parallel imports are sold outside the brand owner's channels and carry diversion, counterfeit and customs seizure risks. Each lot carries the producer's certificate of analysis for sugar, carbonation and microbiology, the origin authority's health certificate, a certificate of origin and a halal certificate from a body the destination accepts, which reviews flavourings and their carriers, colours and any gelatine-stabilised colour against GSO 2538 limits on ethanol in food. EU-bound drinks use only additives on the Union list of Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, US-bound drinks follow FDA additive and colour rules, Gulf labels follow GSO 9 with Arabic text and production and expiry dates, and Saudi imports are registered with the SFDA by the importer. Trays and packs move palletised in 20-ft or 40-ft dry containers on EXW, FCA, FOB, CFR and CIF terms, priced per tray or carton; pallets per container and minimum runs are confirmed per product and pack. Send the flavour, sugar level, pack, label and discharge port, and the enquiry is screened and worked against it.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.