new delhi for years governments doctors and celebrity chefs tried and failed to get the world to consume less sugar then the pandemic hit the global closure of restaurants sports arenas and cinemas means sugar demand will drop this season for the first time in four decades according to supply chain services company czarnikow group drink and confectionery sales at giants including cocacola and nestle have fallen and while economies start to reopen its unclear how quickly demand will recover as incomes and employment fallconsumption out of home is normally more than what you would now substitute and have at home said ben seed an analyst at czarnikow if you go to the cinema you would probably quite happily have a litre or maybe more of soda while you watch the film whereas we just dont think people would drink a whole litre of soda while watching netflixthe sugar industry was already under siege before the coronavirus hit demand growth largely driven by developing countries slowed in recent years as lawmakers from south africa to thailand taxed sugary drinks and health groups urged people to cut back on carbs amid obesity concerns companies responded by selling slimmeddown treats and sugarfree sodasnone of that had as much impact as the lockdowns that slashed outofhome spending and now the emerging global recession is hurting the demand outlook going forward in the first three weeks of april alone cocacolas volumes slid about 25 and the company said the pandemics effect on the second quarter will be material pepsico expects secondquarter revenue to fallsugar consumption will slip 12 to 170 million tons this season according to czarnikow analysts at the us government and citigroup also see demand falling this season the international sugar organization said the crisis has wiped out most of 2020s projected consumption growth and bigger losses may follow falling demand will mean biggerthanexpected sugar surpluses this season and next said john stansfield an analyst at trader group sopex even though people may turn to comfort foods like ice cream that wont offset lost consumption bloomberg for example londonbased icecream maker oddonos gelati italianis sales have been affected by reduced staff and social distancing for now the focus is on how the covid19 crisis will hurt shortterm demand the bigger picture of falling sugar consumption comes from sales data of coke and pepsi which is terrible said sopexs stansfield but what i fear more is falling global gdp unemployed people wont be going to restaurants and bars as gdp stalls so will sugar consumption