Mintel notes potential for Thai chocolate market

24-Oct-2011 - Last updated on 25-Oct-2011 at 15:48 GMT

Growth forecast for Thai choc market

Thailand’s chocolate confectionery segment showed it jumped 20% last year to reach THB3.360bn ($0.1bn), notes UK market analysts Mintel in a new review.

By 2015, the chocolate category is predicted to hit THB6.410bn representing a value CAGR of 14.3% from 2011, claim the researchers in a snapshot review of the chocolate market in that country.

Nestlé leads the way in terms of international chocolate brand presence in Thailand.

Leading Thailand-based distributor DKSH has flagged up its partnership with Nestlé, which started in 2005, as a factor in the Swiss group’s growth in the country. By April 2011, it notes, Nestlé had achieved a 20.4% share by value of the national chocolate market.

The chocolate market in Thailand is still fairly undeveloped with relatively low per capita consumption compared to other countries in the region, claims DKSH. “We have, however, seen a positive development over the years, as industry players have started to invest in above-the-line activities,” it adds.

Gums and chews

Meanwhile in another Mintel snapshot report, the market watchers find that the value of the sugar confectionery market in Thailand leaped 8.3% in 2010.

And the category, which includes sweets and lollipops, pastilles, gums, jellies and chews, mints and breath fresheners, liquorice, toffee and caramels, also saw a volume increase of 4.2% last year, finds the review.

The Mintel specialists forecast that the sweets segment is likely to reach 10.73bn THB ($0.34bn) by 2015, representing a CAGR of 11.1% from 2011.

Pastilles, gums, jellies and chews showed the biggest volume gains from 2008 to 2010.

By volume, local confectioner General Candy Co leads the market, with a 35.3% share. Of the multinationals operating there, Cadbury Adams has the greatest penetration at 21%, followed Perfetti van Melle with 9.7% and Wrigley trailing in third with a 7.1% share of the sugar confectionery category.

However, looking at the segment in value terms, it is Wrigley who comes in ahead of Perfetti Van Melle after General Candy and Cadbury.

And market specialists, Euromonitor, in its review of the Thai confectionery market, notes that in 2010 shoppers there cut down on unnecessary spending but the consumption of sugar confectionery remained steady, with consumers encouraged to buy sugar confectionery as indulgence products.