Europe’s economic crisis is nibbling away at demand for chocolate, the affordable treat once thought of as recession-proof.
Times are tough enough now that even the market for this modest luxury is struggling in Europe, analysts say.
“For the first part of the recession we thought chocolate would be recession-proof, and then we said recession-resistant, and now I think people are just getting ground down,” said Marcia Mogelonsky, the global food and drink analyst at UK-based market research firm Mintel.
“I have not seen this much of a slowing in the market in the time I’ve been watching it.”
While the global chocolate market value would be little changed at $84.5 billion (R734bn) this year, Mintel expected western Europe’s chocolate market value to fall by 5 percent to about $30bn.
Jean-Jacques Vandenheede, the European director for retail insights at Nielsen, said: “Chocolate usually does better than average fast-moving consumer goods because chocolate is the archetype of cheap indulgence so it’s the last thing people will drop.”
In the second quarter of 2012 the global market researcher recorded its first fall in volumes for the fast-moving consumer goods sector since it began monitoring it in 2007.
The slowdown in chocolate demand has filtered through to the cocoa market, with cocoa futures on Liffe falling this week to their lowest level since July 25. – Reuters