The season of chocolates! Christmas to boost Europe chocolate sales

The seasonal sales of chocolate booms in Europe. According to a London Loves Business report that quoted a Euromonitor International industry expert, European consumers buy and eat more chocolates than anywhere in the world.

Christmas Chocolate sale

The report also mentions that Switzerland, France, Ireland, Belgium and Germany are forecasted to be the top 5 countries in the globe to have the biggest average per person expenditure on seasonal chocolate.

Also Read: After an impressive IPO run in 2023, Rs 60,000 crore share sale lined up for 2024

In retail volume terms,Western Europe is expected to be the biggest market; with 271 thousand tonnes of chocolates costing $6.2 billion projected to be sold during the period. This is followed by North America (156 thousand tonnes, $4.4billion) and the USA ($3.9billion).

In terms of sales growth, Peru leads with an estimation of 6.1%, followed by Poland (5.7%), Slovakia (5.4%), South Africa (5.4%) and Bulgaria (5.3%).

Europe's chocolate fantasy

London Loves Business quoted Carl Quash III, Head of Packaged Foods, Snacks and Nutrition, at Euromonitor International and said that consumer goods companies in Europe are bringing down the prices as the continent is expressing an ease in economic pressures.

“Europe appears to be entering a period of easing economic pressures allowing consumer goods companies to bring down prices – right in time for Christmas. This should benefit seasonal candies and other snack categories as consumers’ pocket will have that additional stretch”, Carl Quash III told London Loves Business.

“Nearly half of European consumers believe it is important to spend money on experiences. Snacks will be finding their way around this holiday season as part of gift exchanges, office parties, city holiday events and more", he added.

Chocolate world Titans

With 8%, Hershey's top the market shares of seasonal chocolates. This was followed by Lindt (6.9%) and Reese’s (5.6%) in third, Cadbury’s is in fourth place (4.6%).

Meanwhile, the seasonal chocolate market is expected to recover after Covid-19 when there was a decline of -4.6% in retail value in 2020. It is expected that in 2023 the market will grow by 0.2% in retail value terms, selling over 575 thousand tonnes. In 2028, the retail value is expected to reach $15.28 billion.