Swiss chocolate industry in 2017: successful export business with challenging framework conditions

The domestic sales of Swiss manufacturers fell by an overall 1.3% compared to the previous year. Although the semi-finished goods business trended positively (+ 2.8%), there was a decline in the sale of finished products which are more significant in terms of volume (- 2.3%). Domestic turnover fell by 0.4% to CHF 921 m. The share of imported chocolate in domestic consumption fell again by 0.7 percentage points, just below the 40% limit. The annual per capita chocolate consumption in Switzerland fell by 500 g to 10.5 kg.

The declining domestic trend could be compensated however thanks to growth through export. In this respect, the sales volume increased by 4.8% to 127,923 tonnes, and turnover increased by 6.9% to CHF 936 m. Ever since the sales in Germany – the main export market – had been declining over the last three years, a rise of 16% was finally recorded in 2017.

The other Top 5 exporting countries also gained, with the exception of the US (- 7%): the UK rose by 2%, France by 8% and Canada by 6%. Among the Top 20 exporting countries, Australia and Russia recorded the highest growth rates. The markets in Spain, Singapore, Israel, Brazil, Sweden and China are also thriving – rated between good and very good. In 2017 the export share of total production increased from 65.7% to 67.1%.

The export of large quantities of processed Swiss agricultural commodities went along with it. Thus, about 20% of the total production of Swiss sugar was exported in Swiss chocolate as well.