Coca-Cola consumers who want to avoid corn syrup sometimes opt for Mexican Coca-Cola, made with cane sugar. But American fans of the drink will have a new option later this year.
“We will launch a Coca-Cola sweetened with U.S. cane sugar this fall,” said Coca-Cola president and CEO James Quincey, on a conference call with analysts on Tuesday (22).
The company announced the change in the quarterly earnings report released on Tuesday, describing the new drink as an expansion of its product line.
Quincey said the new offering would “complement” Coca-Cola’s main beverage portfolio, suggesting it could arrive as an alternative, not a replacement, for its flagship product, Coca-Cola.
Coca-Cola’s decision comes a week after the White House issued a statement from President Trump saying he had been talking with the soft drink giant about using cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup in its signature drink.
“I would like to thank all the Coca-Cola executives. This will be a very good decision on their part—you’ll see. It’s simply better!” said Trump.
Trump is a notorious fan of Diet Coke, a product line sweetened mainly with the artificial sweetener aspartame.
The president’s involvement in the recipe of a popular drink was mentioned on the phone call, but executives did not go into details about any communications they had with the White House.
“As you must have seen last week, we appreciate the president’s enthusiasm for our Coca-Cola brand,” Quincey said.
The use of domestic sugar aligns with Trump’s economic priorities, who imposed heavy tariffs on dozens of foreign countries. The sugar’s origin could also affect the drink’s cost: the U.S. sugar industry enjoys substantial market protections against foreign competitors.
“The U.S. has high trade barriers against imported sugar,” as reported by NPR’s Scott Horsley. “As a result, the price of sugar in this country is usually about twice as high as in the world market.”
Although some American consumers see Mexican Coca-Cola as a unique Coca-Cola product that uses cane sugar, Quincey noted that the company already uses the sweetener in various drinks.
“In fact, we use cane sugar in several of our other brands in the American portfolio, from lemonades to teas, some of the coffees, and some Vitamin Water drinks,” he said.
But, he added, Coca-Cola wants to explore new options to meet consumer preferences.
Source: npr.org by Bill Chappell