The chocolate market has shrunk both in Russia and in China

In Russia, the consumption of chocolate decreased in 2020: by 10% compared to 2019, to 6 kg per year per person. There has been a shift in demand towards inexpensive and more nutritious confectionery products, primarily flour and sugary sweets. Rosselkhozbank informs about it. Domestic production of chocolate at the end of last year also decreased by 9%, to about 1 million tons. At the same time, manufacturers switched from more expensive ingredients (cocoa butter) to cheaper ones (cocoa beans). So, in 2020, the volume of imports of cocoa butter decreased by 6%, to 35 thousand tons, while imports of cocoa beans, on the contrary, increased by 6%, to 70 thousand tons. At the same time, export production of Russian chocolate increased. Last year, deliveries to non-CIS countries increased by 8%. The main buyers of Russian chocolate were China, Kazakhstan and Belarus. In China, the chocolate market is also shrinking. At the end of 2020, retail sales of chocolate in China amounted to ...