The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has hit Diet Coke lovers in India hard. With shipping through the Strait of Hormuz disrupted, the supply of aluminium cans has dried up. This has led to a major shortage, forcing Coca-Cola to hike prices by over 10% and switch to larger, more expensive cans.
If you're a Diet Coke fan in India, you might be feeling the heat from a war happening thousands of miles away. The conflict involving the US, Israel, and Iran is causing a major shortage of your favourite drink across the country. The reason? A disruption in the supply of aluminium cans, which has also caused prices to shoot up.
Commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has come to a near-complete standstill after a temporary ceasefire fell apart. This sea route was the main channel for bringing aluminium cans, and the raw materials to make them, into India. There's now a growing worry that this supply crisis could spill over to other sea routes as well.
Bigger Can, 10% Pricier!
With its supply chain in a mess, Coca-Cola has increased the price of Diet Coke in India by more than 10%. The shortage of regular aluminium cans has forced the company to import more expensive and larger cans from Southeast Asia.
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In India, the most popular 300ml Diet Coke can used to sell for ₹40. But with these smaller cans now unavailable, the company is selling 330ml cans for ₹50 to cover the higher costs. If you do the math per millilitre, that's a sharp 13.6% price jump. Coca-Cola has not yet made any official statement about these price changes.
The shortage has become so bad that one of Coca-Cola's bottling partners in India has, for a limited time, started selling Diet Coke in small 200ml glass bottles. However, these bottles are priced much higher than the cans.
Why Has Only Diet Coke Been Affected?
India is a huge growth market for both Coca-Cola and Pepsi. But here's the catch: unlike in many other countries, Diet Coke in India is sold almost exclusively in aluminium cans. This is the main reason why the shortage has hit Diet Coke so specifically.
On the other hand, Coca-Cola's other zero-calorie drink, 'Coke Zero', faces no such threat. That's because it's widely available in plastic bottles as well as cans, keeping its supply chain secure.
