PRODUCT PRICE SHIFTS ACROSS UAE SHELVES

The UAE's shift to a tiered sugar tax is now showing up clearly at the checkout counter.

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As retailers cycle in newly taxed inventory, price gaps are widening between high-sugar, low-sugar, and sugar-free drinks. Products that once sat in the same price range are now moving in opposite directions, driven less by branding and more by what is inside the bottle.

A Gulf News analysis of 10-plus mainstream beverages sold across five popular UAE supermarkets shows the new volumetric system is cutting taxes on many premium, diet, and reformulated drinks, while pushing up costs for low-priced, high-sugar options. The result is a visible reshaping of shelves, where “cheap sugar” is losing its historical price advantage and lower-sugar alternatives are becoming consistently more affordable. Below is how the new tax structure is translating into real-world price shifts across key beverage categories:

Mainstream sodas

A 330ml can of full-sugar cola, typically around 10.6g of sugar per 100ml, now carries about Dh0.36 in excise tax.