Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola is making a bid to break into the market for healthier drinks.

This year Coca-Cola plans to launch its Minute Maid brand in the UK which will see it go head-to-head with Tropicana owned by long-time rival Pepsi-Cola. It will also have fierce competition from supermarket own-label juices.

Sales of Coca-Cola's classic products are at best flat in its key US market, and in decline in certain markets in Europe. And Pepsi has been far quicker to spot the growth in this sector.

Some 80 per cent of Coca-Cola's sales come from carbonated products and by volume, sales of carbonated products rose only one per cent last year, while those of non-carbonated products were up five per cent.

At Pepsi, 40 per cent of drink sales come from non-carbonated products. Pepsi has also bought Pete and Johnny, maker of PJ Smoothies, taking it further into the healthy products sector in the UK.