Oz economy outpaces confectionery growth

The research firm told ConfectioneryNews that stable growth in the Australian confectionery market over the past five years was forecast to continue to 2017, but said the country's economy was growing faster.

Behind overall growth​

“If we look at GDP between 2008 and follow it through to the end of our forecast period in 2017, we see an average growth rate of just below 6%. In comparison, the confectionery market in Australia is set to have an average growth rate of 2.6% a year, over the same period, meaning that this market is growing at a slower rate than the Australian economy,”​ Market Line said.

Chocolate dominates the Australian confectionery market and accounted for over half of value sales in the sector in 2012, while sugar confectionery accounted for around a quarter of revenues in the same year.

Market Line said cereal bars, gum and chocolate sales were expected to slowly decelerate up to 2017, meanwhile sugar confectionery sales were expected to grow slowly.

In a separate report released last year, Leatherhead estimated that the Australian confectionery market was worth 255,000 tonnes in volume in 2012, representing a 10% increase from 2008.

Competitive ​neighbors​

Australia is Asia-Pacific's third largest confectionery market, with Japan and China taking the top spots. “Australia has, however, grown at a faster compound annual growth rate (CAGR) than the Japanese market between 2008 and 2012 at 4.8% as opposed to 0.5%," ​Market Line said.

The Chinese market has grown at over double the rate of the Australian market at a CAGR of 4.8%, where sugar confectionery is the dominant segment.

Looking at Australian confectionery on this global stage, the Leatherhead report put Australia’s per capita consumption of chocolate at 6.3kg, higher than New Zealand (4.8kg) but below Switzerland (11.9kg) and the UK (9.4kg).