Swiss chocolate sales successful at home and abroad

Over the year 2008, the 18 Swiss chocolate manufacturers again produced record results in terms of both quantity and sales value. In a year-on-year comparison, sales went up 2.0% to 184,969 tonnes, while turnover across the industry rose 9.3% to reach CHF 1,818 m. The disproportionate rise in sales turnover set against the change in sales quantity can partly be put down to a large explosion in the cost of raw materials. Of total production, 60.3% was sold abroad (2007: 60.5%). The industry also created approximately 180 new jobs.


In Switzerland, the increasingly cautious mood of the consumers did not impact negatively on the demand for chocolate products. The increase in sales was mainly due to the cool weather in spring and summer, which acted against any longer periods of fine weather or hot spells. In addition, a moderate rise in the number of tourists also had a positive effect. Domestic sales for the Swiss manufacturers came to 73,475 tonnes, which was 2.5% higher than the previous year. The largest growth rates were achieved by solid chocolate bars with ingredients (plus 20.1%) and by filled chocolate bars (plus 9.4%). As for value, domestic sales reached CHF 894 m (plus 7.8%). The share of imported chocolate consumed on the home market has reached 30.9% (2007: 30.5%). Given an annual domestic consumption of 95,514 tonnes of chocolate products – including imports but excluding cocoa and chocolate powder – leads to an average per capita consumption of 12.4 kg, up 100 g on the previous year.


The Swiss chocolate industry continued in 2008 to build on its export business despite the economic downturn in general and the high exchange rate of the Swiss Franc in particular. Foreign sales reached 111,494 tonnes representing a rise of 1.7%. The increase in terms of value was 10.9%, amounting to CHF 924 m. The biggest growth among manufactured products was that of solid chocolate bars (plus 11.0%) and filled chocolate bars (plus 10.2%). The industry also showed growth in the sales of coatings (plus 8.1%). Once more, Germany and its export share of 14.8% led the 140 export markets – ahead of the UK (13.3%), France (9.6%) and the USA (7.4%). However, Swiss chocolate suffered something of a setback in the European Union as a whole with a fall in sales quantity of 7.2%, although the turnover in terms of value remained relatively stable at plus 0.7%. The main reason for this drop in demand can be located in Germany, which took 23.7% less in chocolate deliveries compared to 2007. This translates to a loss in turnover value of 5.7%. Yet there was highly significant growth with regard to deliveries to Belgium (up 32.5% in quantity and 51.9% in value). Meanwhile, outside the EU, the industry was able to notch up impressive sales increases in the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Turkey, Egypt, and India.