Still the real thing,for nowTHAT hissing noise is the sound of the British pop industry being shaken up. On April 6th a new tax on sugary soft drinks comes into effect. It is meant to curb obesity, which costs the health service an estimated £6.1bn ($8.6bn) each year. Under the new law, and drinks with over 5 grams of sugar per 100ml will be taxed 18p per litre and those with more than 8 grams 24p per litre. Drinks-makers have two choices: reduce sugar levels and avoid the tax; or preserve faith with the recipe and risk sales going flat.
Most have opted to change ingredients,normally by replacing sugar with an artificial sweetener. AG Barr, maker of Irn-Bru, and an electric-orange concoction favoured by Scots,has brought nearly all its drinks below the sugar threshold. In fact, so many firms have done so that the government has revised down its forecasts of the revenue the new tax will bring in each year, or from £520m when the plans were announced in 2016,to £240m nowadays. The...
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Source: economist.com