• The Wall Street Journal, Thursday, March 13, 2008 11:15 AM

Carbonated soft-drink volume fell 2.3% last year, according to Beverage Digest. Rising prices compounded flagging consumer interest in the category, leading to the sharp decline. Soft drink volume slipped 0.6% in 2006 and 0.2% in 2005.

The drop appears to be due to price increases of about 5% in the past year that have made soft drinks less attractive, coupled with continually growing interest in newer drink categories, like enhanced waters and teas. The results would have been "at least several tenths of a percentage point worse" had they not included sales of energy drinks, notes Beverage Digest editor John Sicher.

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo's soft-drink volumes fell 2.7% each, and each company's share of the U.S. carbonated soft-drink market slipped 0.1 percentage point--to 42.8% for Coke and 31.1% for Pepsi. Among the top 10 selling soda brands, only Diet Mountain Dew, marketed by PepsiCo, and Diet Dr Pepper, marketed by Cadbury, posted volume growth. The top two brands--Coca-Cola Classic and Pepsi-Cola--continued to slide, with Coke volume slipping 3% and Pepsi volume falling 4.8%.

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