Chocolate nation Switzerland: Export is becoming increasingly important

Thanks to good growth rates in four of the five most important export markets (Great Britain, France, Canada and USA) and partly very strong growths in other export markets, the declines in the most important export market, i.e. Germany, and in the domestic market could be compensated. According to Chocosuisse, the total domestic sales by Swiss manufacturers declined by 1.2% compared to the previous year. The domestic turnover decreased by 1.5% overall. The strong franc continues to keep up the import pressure and in 2016, it resulted in a 3.4% increase in the share of imported chocolates in the domestic consumption. Thus, the import share exceeded the value of 40% for the first time.

The per-capita chocolate consumption in Switzerland fell 100 g to 11.0 kg. In 2016, there was an overall positive development in the export business. The sales increased by 4.3% to 122,034 tonnes. The turnover thus achieved increased to CHF 874 m (+ 3.7%). The share of foreign sales in the total production increased again in 2016 and is now 65.7% (previous year: 64.5%). While the largest part of Swiss chocolates was still sold in the domestic market at the turn of the millennium, two of three chocolates manufactured in Switzerland are today being exported.