ACNielsen confirm first quarter growth

During the first quarter of 2006 sales of confectionery in German food retail stores ( not including the Aldi discount chain) rose 0.4% to total € 1.615 bn. Given that Easter fell late this year this result is satisfactory. Mighty discounters Aldi chalked up confectionery sales growth of 16.3% up to € 445 m during the first 13 weeks of the year, say ACNielsen. Impulse channel confectionery sales continued to decline, dipping 8.1% down to € 147 m. According to the market researchers sales of year-round confectionery rose 2.6% to € 2.207 bn.