The Russian group saw a 27.2% rise in functional cocoa butter substitutes sales in its 9-month financials released on Friday.
Russian recovery
It said that the rise in substitutes was unlinked to increasing cocoa butter prices and had more to do with a pickup in the Russian confectionery sector.
Evgeny Lyashenko, CEO of EFKO Group, told ConfectioneryNews: “The demand for cocoa butter substitutes is only related to the confectionery market. During 9M 2013 the growth in Russian confectionery totaled 6%, which indicates the market recovery and increase in purchasing ability.
“The price of cocoa butter does not affect to the demand of non-lauric cocoa butter substitutes.”
Glossary Of Terms
Cocoa Butter – Obtained from crushing and grinding cocoa beans and used in chocolate at around 30% to give mouthfeel, texture and aroma.
Cocoa Butter Substitutes (CBS) – Use mainly lauric based fats (sometimes non-lauric) to give a different chemical composition to cocoa butter but with some similar physical traits. Can only be used as a part replacer of cocoa butter.
Cocoa butter replacers (CBRs) – A type of cocoa butter substitute that uses non-lauric based fats such as soybean and cottonseed oil. Can be used as part replacers of cocoa butter.
Cocoa Butter Equivalents (CBEs) - Use a mixture including vegetable fats such as illipe and shea nut butter to mimic the physical and chemical properties of cocoa butter. Can be used for full or part replacement of cocoa butter.
Non-lauric
EFKO leads the Russian cocoa butter substitute market with a 19% share. The company’s cocoa substitute sale growth was driven by non-lauric cocoa butter substitutes – known as cocoa replacers
“We also have achieved the growth through the substitution of imported products on the Russian market, and also through export sales development, primarily to Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. These markets have high potential, but are less developed than the markets of industrial ingredients in Russia,” said Lyashenko.
EFKO supplies lauric and non-lauric cacao butter substitutes and a new generation of CBS with low transisomer content. “This defines their functionality and allows to be used for different purposes in industry,” said Lyashenko.
The cost of CBS can be up to 40% cheaper than cocoa butter.