IRI monitor: salty snacks grow steadily

According to the IRI confectionery monitor, sales of retailers and suppliers in the German market dipped slightly 0.9% in the first six months of 2014, chalking up € 5.497 bn. Confectionery sales volume (excluding chewing gum and seasonal products), on the other hand, was down 1.4% from last year to 806,297 tonnes (basis: food retailers + drug stores + hard discounters + gas station shops).

Then again, salty snacks are growing steadily: € 1.243 bn worth of revenue meant a sizeable gain of 8.5% in the first half year, with volume mounting by 5.5% to 170,324 tonnes. A slump is unlikely to occur, which is all the more true as July too is sure to have benefitted from the football world championship, which was quite the event for the snack fans. With € 2.342 bn of revenue, chocolate products (excluding seasonal articles) were up 0.7% from the previous year although sales volume dropped by 1.2% to 261,839 tonnes. This is contrasted by the negative development seen in the segments fine baked goods and cake (- 4.8% volume /- 3.9% turnover) as well as sugar confectionery (- 4.0% /- 2.8%).

Easter season 2014 (February – May) showed satisfactory figures, with an increase in turnover of 4.4% and in sales volume of 1.8%. The chewing gum category showed similar growth rates according to the IRI results (+ 1.1% /+ 4.2%).

www.iriworldwide.com