The IRI confectionery monitor indicates significant growth of confectionery sales in the German retail during the first four months of 2020. There can be no doubt that the Corona crisis lockdown phase in March and April was a major driver for revenue growth of 8.0% up to € 4.727 bn and a sales volume increase of 6.5% up to 629,141 tonnes (basis: food retailers + drug stores + hard discounters + gas station shops). According to IRI, the highest profits were gained in the already strong growth category of salty snacks with a revenue increase of 15.2% up to € 1.300 bn and a rise in sales volume of 12.0% up to 158,219 tonnes.

Consumers’ taste for chocolate products (without season) also appears to have increased in this emergency situation, outperforming the previous year’s earnings by 4.9% with € 1.898 bn and increased chocolate sales quantity by 3.8% up to 188,345 tonnes. The greatest increase rates were achieved here with small tablets (revenues + 18.0%; sales volume + 21.7%) and bars (+ 10.4%; + 9.4%). However, the IRI market researchers calculated a slight decline for Easter season chocolate products of 1.3% down to € 444.9 m (sales volume + 3.9%; 29,453 t).
The sweet baked goods and cake product group underwent growth that was far above average with revenues of € 838.7 m (+ 9.6%) and sales volume of 155,996 tonnes (+ 8.5%). In comparison, the growth with sugar confectionery was relatively mild, up 2.6% in value (€ 690.4 m) and 2.0% in quantity (126,581 t). The chewing gum segment witnessed a significant decline in the first four months of 2020, with revenues down 7.8% to € 147.3 m and sales volume falling by 10.6% to 99.4 million pieces.