Perhaps the world doesn't want to notice it is just drinking sugary water. Coca-Cola has been hawking its black fizzy concoction for more than 100 years but it is still finding ways to reach more consumer throats. Yesterday, the company reported strong fourth-quarter results, based on another round of worldwide volume growth. And while the vision for 2020 laid out by management in the autumn was aspirational – Coke aims to double servings to more than 3bn per day in the next decade – on this form it does not seem impossible.
Naturally, developing markets lead the way. Soft drink case volumes for the Pacific region grew 11 per cent on the year before, and 7 per cent in Latin America. Within that, India and China were the speediest countries. Combined with Mexico and Brazil, they contributed the same amount of additional volume as another Germany, Coke's sixth largest market. And with Coke reaching just 6m customers in China, the potential for further expansion remains undimmed.
Of course, chasing volumes is not an end in itself. Profits must feature as well. Coca-Cola is a system of interlocking businesses, with the company owning stakes in its independent bottlers. What seems promising under chief executive Muhtar Kent, a former bottling man, is that long-term agreements with bottlers about their responsibilities and share of profits should provide greater incentives to help returns.