Alongside our daily news coverage, features and interviews, the Just Drinks news team sifts through the week’s most intriguing data sets to bring you a roundup of the week in numbers.

During the first week of the New Year, we took a look at packaged water's growth in China as Nongfu Spring invested in bottling infrastructure, delved into the 2023 harvest in England and Wales and analysed Thailand’s spirits market as the country scrapped taxes on spirits.

Packaged water due for steady growth in China

China’s packaged water market is set for steady growth between now and 2027, data suggests.

Worth $32.6m in 2023, the category could be worth $40.6bn by 2027, according to analysis from GlobalData, Just Drinks’ parent company.

Packaged water is classified as “all potable water including water without added mineral/vitamin enhancement, flavorings or sugar/sweeteners, sold in large containers of up to and including 10 liters”. It excludes soda waters.

It comes as this week Chinese manufacturer and bottled-water producer Nongfu Spring announced it was investing 5bn yuan ($704m) in a plant in Jiande City in eastern China.

The proposed “comprehensive industrial base” is expected to be completed in five years and will process and bottle water as well as other beverages and “related products”.

The Chinese producer’s portfolio includes a range of packaged water, teas, juices and functional beverage brands. Packaged water accounted for 54% of revenue in 2022. Tea-based products tailed at 15%, followed by functional beverages at 12%.

WineGB predicts record haul for English, Welsh winemakers in 2023

The 2023 wine harvest in England and Wales could prove the region’s largest, estimated figures show.

Trade body WineGB predicts Britain could produce 20-22m bottles from last year’s vintage, making it 50% larger than the previous record, set in 2018.

“As we saw in 2018, the previous record holder, an absence of spring frosts and a good (perhaps great) flowering are the keys to large yields,” WineGB UK viticulture consultant Stephen Skelton MW said.

Great Britain’s wine industry continues to boom, with 74% more land under vine in 2023 than five years ago and increasing yields. The area in production has almost trebled since 2012, while average yields have increased by around 45%.

In 2023, vineyards produced 9.6 tonnes of grapes per hectare compared to five tonnes in 2022 and 7.1 tonnes in 2018.

WineGB put this growth down to a changing climate, which has benefitted the UK’s wine industry, better vineyard sites and expertise in the vineyards.

WineGB surveys 132 vineyard owners representing around 50% of the anticipated national cropping area for 2023. Yield data for 2023 was provided solely by English producers, due to “insufficient data” from Wales.

Thailand’s spirits market set for pre-pandemic recovery by 2027

The value of Thailand’s spirits market could beat 2018 levels by 2027, data suggests.

Worth $12.72bn in 2018 with 880m litres sold, the category dipped to a low of $9.98bn in 2021 but could rise to $13.08bn by 2027, according to analysis by GlobalData.

Last year Thailand sold 810m litres of spirits worth $10.98bn.

This week, the south-east Asian country announced tax cuts that could boost the sector – with its 10% excise tax on spirits removed.

Duty will be slashed on both wine and spirits in a bid to promote tourism, the finance ministry announced on Tuesday.

Indonesia soft-drinks market forecast to reach $22bn in three years

Indonesia’s soft-drinks market is set to surpass $22bn by 2027, data suggests.

Worth $17.9m in 2023, soft drinks could be worth $22.2bn in the next three years according to GlobalData’s Intelligence Centre. The category has been on a steady upwards trend since 2020.

This week Suntory Beverage & Food revealed it was selling its stake in its Indonesian non-alcoholic beverage business, Suntory Garuda Beverage.

Its 75% stake in Suntory Garuda Beverage was sold to domestic food and beverage manufacturer PT Garudafood Putra Putri Jaya Tbk.

Suntory Garuda Beverage has manufacturing, bottling and distribution operations for non-alcoholic beverages in Indonesia. Its products include the tea brands Mytea and Mounttea, as well as the jelly-based beverage Okky.

The remaining shares in the business are owned by PT Domulyo Maju Bersama (21.4%) and PT Sentosa Teknik Mandiri (3.6%).