the chocolate and chocolate factory market | Italy

1.1 Definition and presentation

Chocolate is a sweet food, usually brown, made from roasted and ground cocoa beans, which is available as a liquid, solid or paste, alone or as a flavoring agent in other foods. The seeds of the cacao tree have an intense bitter taste and must be fermented to develop their flavor. After fermentation, the seeds are dried, cleaned, and roasted to make the sweet chocolate that is widely consumed today. The chocolate market can be segmented by type (white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate), by distribution channel (convenience store, supermarket, online sales), and by geographic area.

The global chocolate market was valued at $138.5 in 2020 and is expected to reach $200.4 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 4.8 percent over the period.

In general, people in Italy are less attracted to chocolate than in other European countries. Over the past decade, the absolute consumption value has been estimated at 3.1 kg per capita per year, compared to the European average of 11 kg. However, during the lockdown, chocolate won over Italian citizens, and bars literally flew off supermarket shelves, registering an 18.5 percent increase in sales. A trend confirmed even after the easing of restrictive measures, when purchases dropped but the trend was still higher than before (+10.7%). Among the most sought-after categories, premium, organic and sugar-free qualities determine the preferred choice of the vast majority of the population.

The leading companies in Italy remain the Ferrero group, which has 39.6 percent market share (with the Kinder, Ferrero Rocher and Pocket Coffee brands), followed by Lindt 13.4 percent, Nestlé 11.4 percent, Dufour 4.5 percent and Mars 3.6 percent. In particular, these companies import cocoa from African countries, where Nigeria and Ghana are the leaders in exporting the beans around the world. Then, they process the cocoa to obtain the products that are sold in the market. In 2019, Italy exported $2.13 billion worth of chocolate, making it the world's third largest exporter.