Romanians eat around 1.4 kg of sweets per capita on average annually, the lowest consumption among 17 countries of Europe analyzed by ZF on the basis of Canadean data. By comparison, Danes eat 16 kg of sweets on average, Germans 14 kg.
In eastern Europe, consumption is lower than in the West, but nonetheless countries such as Ukraine, Bulgaria or Poland beat Romania in terms of sweets consumption.
Sweets consumption is rising in Romania, at least on some product categories, such as pralines.
Canadean expects a 18% increase in sweets volume by 2018, but Gabriela Munteanu, marketing manager at Kandia Dulce, Romania’s biggest chocolate producer, explains such an increase is hard to attain. She says sweets industry growth is influenced by several factors such as economic growth, trade development, the arrival of a large player on the market or the trend of private labels.
“Romania’s sweets market has reached a certain maturity. Not even the arrival of a new player could have such a big influence,” says Munteanu.
In 2014, the sweets market was worth $509 million (EUR380 million).
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)