Premium international brands for China’s increasingly affluent population could be instrumental in raising low domestic chocolate consumption, according to market researchers Canadean.
Hershey is expecting the chocolate category to increase advertising spend in the next year to promote a growing number of innovations, which will leverage category growth.
Scottish chocolate start-up, IQ Chocolate, has high hopes for its “raw” dark chocolate bars within the high quality, functional foods sector and is currently in the initial stages of preparing a dossier for a health claim.
The premium private label chocolate industry is becoming increasing interested in the subtleties of cocoa and is willing to sacrifice single origins for a flavorsome blend, according to French chocolatier Cémoi.
Business skills are as important to cocoa farmers as material addressed in field schools, says the program director of Olam and Blommer Chocolate’s independently-run joint venture project Grow Cocoa.
North America’s third quarter cocoa grind is the highest of any quarter since the National Confectioners Association began to collaborate data for the US, Mexico and Canada in 2009. The Asian Q3 cocoa grind has also jumped 12%.
Mondelēz International’s heat resistant chocolate, new product development and increased penetration in under-represented parts of the world offers the company considerable potential for the future, chocolate head Bharat Puri has claimed.
Nestlé organic sales growth slowed to 4.4% in the first nine months of the year, compared to 6.1% in the same period last year, hit by weaker demand from emerging markets and ongoing recession in Europe.
France’s leading private label chocolate maker Cémoi sees little growth in the European chocolate market and hopes instead to promote its branded goods in Asia and in the developing US private label market.
Confectionery giant Mars has defended its use of artificial colors in M&Ms after being urged to ditch them in a petition on change.org accompanied by a press release from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) describing them as “neurotoxic...
Oreo maker Mondelez International will introduce video display units near checkouts that estimate a person’s age and gender to deliver targeted advertising.
Chocolate production is still growing in developed markets, but volumes are growing at a faster pace in Eastern European countries like Poland, data from Leatherhead Food Research shows.
Special Edition - Hygienic Design & Quality Testing
Choosing equipment that allows you to access critical areas for inspection is essential to limiting water use during production, but some processes are better suited to a wet wash, says equipment supplier Sollich.
Special Edition: Hygienic Design & Quality Testing
Auditory testing to measure the crunch noise a product will make when it is chewed in the mouth is quickly becoming widespread in the confectionery industry.
Special Edition: Hygienic Design & Quality Testing
The confectionery industry will move from aluminum surfaces on processing and packaging equipment to stainless steel in the next five years in order to raise sanitation standards, according to Bosch.
Special Edition: Hygienic Design & Quality Testing
Retailers are piling the pressure on confectioners to swap paper records for quicker mobile scanning technology to trace the source of raw ingredients, protecting them in the event of a recall, according to computing firm Intermec.
Mars Chocolate North America claims pushing year-round sharing occasions is key to getting US chocolate consumption on par with high levels observed in many Western European nations.
Adding low levels of red and black pigments to chocolate prior to aeration can prevent aerated chocolate from getting lighter and potentially putting off consumers, according to a patent filed by Unilever.
Equipment supplier Carle&Montanari-OPM has spotted a rise in the use of retail-ready packaging among confectionery firms in the US and claims picker cell robots allow great flexibility to pack pre-merchandized chocolate and candy.
Soaring cocoa butter prices have upped the cost of chocolate bar manufacture in Europe by 25% in the past 12 months, according to commodity analysts Mintec, which claims the cocoa deficit will worsen.
Chocolate makers are increasingly opting for dried fruit inclusions over sharper flavor additions like chilli and nuts because of their perceived healthy image and flavor enhancing properties, according to confectionery equipment supplier Egan Food Technologies...
Turkish conglomerate Yildiz Holding has sold a 20% stake in its chocolate and biscuit business Ülker in a share offering as its Godiva business grows rapidly in international markets.
The Hershey Company will make its single largest investment in Asia with a new factory in Malaysia, a country the firm says gives it a strong route to 25 markets in the region, including China.
The majority of UK consumers who admit to regularly buying confectionery in-store do not purchase confectionery online, according to research by Kantar Media, which says confectionery has huge growth prospects on the web.
Barry Callebaut has opened its first chocolate factory in Turkey, while SunOpta has completed a organic and specialty cocoa processing facility in the Netherlands.
Bosch Packaging Technology claims that flexibility is crucial for smaller businesses as it launches two new bagging machines at Pack Expo designed for smaller confectioners looking for quick and easy changeovers between products.
Mondelēz International has appealed against the New Zealand trademark authority’s decision to OK rival Whittaker’s registration of its Berry Forest chocolate bar, despite protestations that it is too similar to Mondelēz's own Black Forest brand.
By Rick Beckmann, senior foreign legal counsel, and Aldi Rakhmatillah, associate, of Susandarini & Partners, in association with Norton Rose Fulbright Australia
How should Indonesia and, more to the point, the local community, benefit from foreign investment in plantations?
Forecast butter and milk powder shortages could limit the EU’s ability to keep up with domestic and global demand, according to chocolate and confectionery trade group CAOBISCO.
Cadbury has failed to block Kiwi rival Whittaker’s trademarking of the name 'Berry Forest' on the grounds that it is too similar to its Black Forest chocolate bar.
Spanish chocolate major Natra will launch a nut variant of its Tiger bar countline in South Africa for retailers and said it would consider exclusivity agreements.
Rising dark chocolate consumption is driving up prices, according to data from Euromonitor International, with China, Switzerland and the US having the highest retail value.
Printpack: Choose polyester over cheaper polypropylene for see-through packs
Confectioners are moving towards clear packaging films that display part of the product to win shelf appeal, according to packaging suppler Printpack, which says confectioners should opt for polyester clear films over cheaper polypropylene versions.
Booming demand from the growing middle classes in emerging markets mean confectionery industry investments in processing and packaging equipment will grow 4% to 5% annually, according to a report by processing and packaging association PMMI.
The Indonesian deputy trade minister has said that after successfully increasing domestic cocoa grinding capacity the country should lower cocoa bean import duties to prevent shortages in the future.
Barry Callebaut has collaborated with Hershey to build a primary school in a western cocoa-growing region of Côte d’Ivoire – a move that should ensure children stay off the farms, Barry Callebaut says.
Mars and Nestlé have opted to settle a class action lawsuit over price fixing allegations in Canada but both still face criminal charges in a separate investigation from the Competition Bureau.
As we approach the first year anniversary of the launch of Mondelēz International, ConfectioneryNews peers into the chocolate box of the young confectionery titan.
Mondelez International hopes to strengthen its real-time engagement with consumers via its global partnership with Twitter, a move one marketing expert has dubbed 'clever' and 'innovative'.
Mars Chocolate North America has announced nine product launches planned for 2014, which it will exhibit at the Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing (NACS) show at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta between 12-15 October.
Korean firm Lotte’s recent acquisition of Kazakstan’s leading confectioner forms part of a carefully planned expansion strategy that gives it a “jumping board” to Russia and Central Asia, according to an analyst at Mintel.
UK premium confectioner Thorntons has claimed consumer sentiment for gift chocolates is strong in spite of a troubled UK economy as it posts positive full year results.
