U.S. Coke bottlers switched from cane sugar to high-fructose corn syrup in the 1980s to cut costs. Mexican Coke still uses cane sugar, though the coke down there sells for a lot less than it does up in the U.S./Canada - speaking from personal experience. Coke makes it illegal (or against company policy really) for Mexican bottlers to send their cane sugar coke up north - which the Mexican bottlers are trying to do becaues people want/demand the real sugar coke instead of the fake stuff we get fed.
The underground trade is costing Coke's 75 U.S. bottlers millions of dollars a year in sales to a motley crew of wholesalers, distributors and mom-and-pop retailers who are beating the bottlers to a lucrative market with their own brand.
Some quick numbers, on why Coke would use HFCS over sugar.
- Annual US Per capita consumption of Coke in servings: 411
- People in the United States: 297,890,000
- Servings of Coke in the US, per year: 122,432,790,000
- How much a 5 cent cost increase in sweetner, per serving, would affect the bottom line of Coca Cola: $6,121,639,500
- How much a penny cost increase in sweetner, per serving, would cost Coca-Cola:
$1,224,327,900
