Americans cut back on carbonated soft drinks again last year, with soda sales reaching their lowest levels in nearly two decades, according to a leading beverage industry newsletter.
Total sales fell 3% in 2013 to 8.9 billion cases, the ninth straight year of decline and lowest total since 1995, according to Beverage Digest. A case is equal to 192 liquid ounces.
Domestic soda sales grew throughout most of the 1990s, before beginning to slow in 1999. Sales have been in decline since 2005, falling 1.2% in 2012 and 1% in 2011.
Industry critics have said perceptions of the soda industry as contributing to the U.S. obesity epidemic and growing health concerns among consumers have hurt sales, experts said.
New York City is still trying to ban the sale of large sugary drinks, a proposal pushed by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The de Blasio administration is defending the proposal in court.
