This is forecasted to post a 1.3% growth from 2015 to 2020, with products featuring the Rainforest Alliance label being the strongest performers, the market research provider added.
Sustainability certifying agents, Rainforest Alliance and UTZ, will merge later this year, setting new cocoa sustainability standards, ConfectioneryNews recently reported.
Beyond the chocolate confectionery category
“Sustainability in the cocoa industry continues to be of great importance,” said Helen Reavell, contributing analyst at Euromonitor. “Without investment in sustainable production, the future of the global cocoa industry is uncertain.
“The use of certification schemes builds consumer confidence in cocoa-related products. Unsurprisingly, it is chocolate confectionery products that are contributing the most to the total value sales of products featuring these labels, as these labels are closely linked to sustainability certification schemes for cocoa.”
However, as the usage of cocoa ingredients are prevalent across a wide range of categories, the use of certified cocoa is still valid across more than just chocolate confectionery, Reavell noted.
“The [Euromonitor] data shows which companies are using these labels on their packaging,” she added. “For example, Mondelēz accounted for 67% value share of the chocolate confectionery featuring a Fairtrade label, with both its Cadbury’s and Green & Black’s products using Fairtrade cocoa.”
Asia Pacific to see cocoa ingredients demand rise
Despite a forcasted fall in share from 31% of global consumption in 2015 to 29% by 2020, Western Europe is expected to remain the largest region for cocoa ingredients.
The share decrease is driven by growth in other regions, most notably Asia Pacific.
"Asian Pacific will continue to be the strongest performer to 2020, with its forecast absolute volume growth of over 165,000 tons between 2015 and 2020,” said Euromonitor.
“At the same time, North America is likely to remain very weak, with a CAGR of less than 1% between 2015 and 2022. This is due to fall in demand for chocolate confectionery, as consumers switch to other snack foods, particularly healthier snacks."
Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa also anticipate growth in cocoa ingredients consumption, although they both remain relatively small markets with 10% and 5% shares, respectively, of global volumes in 2015, according to Euromonitor.