Russia exports chocolate confectionary worth nearly $600 mln in ten months - Agroexport

MOSCOW. Nov 29 (Interfax) - Russia exported almost $600 million worth of chocolate confectionery products over the first ten months of this year, Andrey Kucherov, deputy head of the Agroexport center, said at a round table during a business mission of Russian agricultural product exporters to South Africa, which was organized by Agroexport and the Russian Agriculture Ministry.

"The Russian Federation is actively developing the export of confectionery products. Over 10 months of this year, the export of chocolate confectionery products was almost $600 million," he said, without giving the dynamics of the indicator.

As reported in the review of South Africa prepared prior to the mission, in 2022 the country imported 129,100 tonnes of confectionery products worth $296.7 million, which is 5.6% and 13.5% more, respectively, than in 2021. The largest share of the imports is occupied by chocolate confectionery products, which accounted for 40% ($118.8 million) of shipped product. The share of flour-based and sugar confectionery products were 34.6% and 25.4%, respectively.

As Konstantin Tikhomirov, director of the practice for providing services to government agencies and the public sector at Trust Technologies, said at the round table, there is good demand for confectionery products in the African market, including chocolate bars. Moreover, these products can be a healthy snack and an impulse purchase. "Suppliers are looking at offering products that are enriched with healthy ingredients," he said.

As reported, in 2022 Russia exported confectionery products worth $1.63 billion compared to $1.64 billion in 2021. Of this amount, 46% was chocolate confectionery ($751.5 million versus $872.1 million in 2021).