Brown Study

If you're planning to forget the diet for a few days, you may be interested in some facts about chocolate consumption from Datamonitor. The British are the biggest consumers of chocolate in Europe, eating on average 10kg (24 pounds) of the stuff each year - nearly twice the European average, and the equivalent of 154 Mars Bars.

'Confectionery in the UK to 2008' concludes that British chocoholics pay nearly 30% more than the European average per kilo - nearly £6, three times as much as consumers in the Czech Republic. The UK chocolate market will be worth £3.6 billion in 2004, and is dominated by three players - Cadbury Schweppes, Masterfoods and Nestle.

Chocolate bars (or 'countline products') account for 44% of all chocolate sales by volume - with the market leaders being Kit Kat, Twix and the Mars Bar. Growth in British consumption is slowing, perhaps due to concerns about healthy eating - in 2004, overall chocolate volume sales rose by less than 1% to 605m kg (1.3 billion pounds) - and Datamonitor predicts a continuation of this trend to the end of the decade.

Manufacturers are expected to launch more low carbohydrate and sugar free products to attract price premiums in a crowded market and to attract adult consumers back to chocolate - a trend already seen in the USA. NPD is increasingly aimed at adults due to ongoing controversy about child obesity.

Per capita consumption of chocolate, 2004

Country	kg/head
UK	10.00
Germany	8.3
France	5.8
Spain	3.8
Italy	2.2

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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