Thai Beverage Makers Look to Warm Weather to Revive Earnings

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(Bloomberg) — For Thai beverage companies, summer can’t come fast enough. After a year of weak consumer sentiment weighing on earnings, warmer days are expected to boost the bottom lines of tea and energy drink makers.

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Major Thai beverage players endured profit pressures through much of 2025. Osotspa PCL, Carabao Group PCL and Ichitan Group PCL saw quarterly earnings growth in the first nine months of last year decline sequentially, while expansion in the fourth quarter is expected to be muted, according to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

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Increasing living costs, US tariffs, high household debt and even the Thailand-Cambodia conflict dampened profit margins in the sector last year.

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First-quarter earnings, though, are apt to reveal more positive numbers as the temperatures rise.

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“Warmer weather is expected to support beverage earnings in 2026 by lifting consumption frequency and accelerating demand for higher-value drinks,” according to Pimwadee Aguilar, director of Thailand consumer reports at Mintel. “Climate-driven demand is likely to keep the beverage sector among the stronger performers in Thailand through 2026.”

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Thai consumers are also increasingly interested in vitamin waters and drinks viewed as good for their health, she said. 

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Maybank analyst Tanida Jirapornkasemsuk forecasts Thailand’s beverage sector recovering as the days get warmer with earnings growth of 9% compared with a 5% decline for food this year and will get help from summer days. “Within the food and beverage sector, we prefer beverages due to their superior sales and earnings growth outlook,” Jirapornkasemsuk said in a January report. 

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Refreshed product lines could also entice more sales. Forty-one percent of consumers in general are motivated to try new flavored beverages, according to a survey by Mintel.

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Thai consumers are also increasingly interested in vitamin waters and drinks viewed as good for their health, Aguilar said. 

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The sector could also get a boost if Thai consumer confidence strengthens in the first half of the year after the general election, according to Gun Hathaisattha, CGS International’s head of retail research in Thailand. “A policy tilt toward improving competitiveness in the long-term could meaningfully lift consumer confidence and encourage more decisive spending,” Hathaisattha said.

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