Coca-Cola India revives Diet Coke glass bottles amid aluminum supply concerns
Key takeaways
- Coca-Cola has reintroduced Diet Coke in 200 mL glass bottles in India, priced higher than cans.
- The glass bottles are seen as a strategic alternative to aluminum cans amid supply disruptions.
- The shortage is linked to India’s lack of domestic can-body stock production, underscoring structural vulnerabilities in beverage packaging supply chains.
Coca-Cola has reintroduced Diet Coke in 200 mL glass bottles across India, sparking consumer debate over premium pricing as the six-pack hits shelves at a higher cost.
Previously, Diet Coke was available only in aluminum cans in India.
Tanishq, a research associate at Sheshi, an AI‑powered fintech company based in India, tells Packaging Insights: “India’s aluminum output is overwhelmingly upstream. However, the downstream sector, the constellation of rolling mills, surface-treatment lines, and alloy laboratories that transform ingots into can-body stock, is underdeveloped.”
Tanishq notes that can-body stock is not produced domestically at any significant volume. “Beverage-can manufacturers therefore import the substrate from global suppliers, primarily in the Middle East and East Asia.”
“The Diet Coke shortage was a real-time validation of the structural vulnerability. When global aluminum supply chains tightened, India had no domestic fallback.”
Last month, the base price of aluminum per ton hit a four-year high. Brewers in India warned of glass bottle and aluminum can price increases due to the prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Higher pricing
The price of the relaunched glass bottle Diet Coke is reportedly higher than previous aluminum options.
The 200 mL glass bottle of Diet Coke is now listed on instant retail platforms like Blinkit at INR100 (US$1.03), while 300 mL cans was previously retailed at INR40 (US$0.41) and 200 mL cans around INR30 (US$0.31).
According to Tanishq, for the Indian aluminum can industry, the bottleneck isn’t in producing raw aluminum but in turning it into finished cans. “Until can-stock production is treated as strategic packaging infrastructure, private capital will continue to flow into safer, commoditized aluminum segments.
Earlier, Coca-Cola India launched its Affordable Small Sparkling Package bottle type made with 100% recycled PET. The 250 mL bottles — comparatively lighter than a standard bottle — are manufactured by Coca-Cola’s bottling partner, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages.
