Increased consumption tax: sales of healthier juices fall further, soft drinks and energy drinks with added sugars gain ground

Since the increase in consumption tax on Jan. 1, 2024 this year, Dutch people started drinking less vegetable and fruit juices and more sports and energy drinks. On the consumption of soft drinks, the increased consumption tax, introduced on the grounds that it would help Dutch people consume less sugar, has little effect. The consumption tax ignores the healthy properties of pure vegetable and fruit juices, endorsed by independent research.

"The latest sales figures underline what we have been saying since the consumption tax was introduced: this tax increase was introduced with spurious arguments and is counterproductive with regard to public health. The Dutch are now actually consuming more unhealthy added sugars," said Albert Schulp of Schulp Vruchtensappen on behalf of the artisan juice makers. "Meanwhile, more and more people are abandoning juices and we are seeing a decline in supermarket purchases."

Earlier this year, the tax on non-alcoholic beverages, such as soft drinks and fruit juices, was increased. The tax rose from almost 9 cents per liter to over 26 cents per liter. This should generate an additional €300 million per year for the state and stimulate people to live healthier lives. Around its introduction the increase was heavily criticized because with this generic flat tax it does not matter how much sugar is in a drink. Also, no distinction is made between (natural) non-added sugars (as in vegetable and fruit juices) and added sugars (as in many dairy, soft and energy drinks).

Schulp: "Fruit juice has become so expensive due to increased consumption taxes, combined with increased fruit prices, that a family is more likely to abandon a pack or bottle of pure fruit juice, while the teenager who wants to buy a can of energy drink on his break is apparently not deterred by a few more dimes. It really is the world upside down."

Recent sales figures show that the increased consumption tax does not have a positive health effect, but rather causes the opposite effect. In the first nine months of 2024, juice makers saw their sales drop by 6 percent, while the tax had virtually no effect on sales of the entire range of soft drinks (-1 percent). Manufacturers of energy drinks, to which a lot of sugar is added, actually saw their sales increase over the same period (+3 percent). Manufacturers of sports drinks even saw their sales increase by 12 percent.

Scientific research shows that pure vegetable and fruit juices are healthier than drinks with added sugars. For example, a doctoral study by food scientist Floor Scheffers shows that moderate consumption of pure fruit juice (1 to 7 glasses per week) has a favorable effect on the risk of cardiovascular disease (-12% to -15% lower risk). Higher consumption of pure fruit juice (more than 8 glasses per week) appears to have no effect on type 2 diabetes. Based on her research, supervised by RIVM and UMC Utrecht, Scheffers concluded that pure fruit juice need not be discouraged, unlike drinks with added sugar. Scheffers further indicated that there is no or only a small non-clinical link between the consumption of pure fruit juice and obesity, while beverages with added sugar do find that link. The Netherlands is the only country in the world that actively rejects consumption of pure juices.

Professor Jaap Seidell has also recently spoken out on this topic in various media, advocating that vegetable and fruit juices be reinstated in the "Disk of Five." He also recommends implementing the same system in the Netherlands as in the United Kingdom. There, a consumption tax based on added sugars is used.

Juice makers are calling on politicians to exempt pure fruit and vegetable juices from the current consumption tax by Jan. 1, 2025, and move toward a differentiated consumption tax based on added sugars. In the United Kingdom (and dozens of other countries), this has led to demonstrable results: 50 percent of soft drink producers have changed the formula of sugary drinks, reducing the total amount of sugar purchased from drinks per household.