Brazil pursuing new markets for its chocolate and sweets

IN PREVIOUS issues, we have featured a number of chocolate and confectionery companies from Brazil attempting to further their markets in the MEA region. The country has much to offer in terms of quality cocoa and chocolate. The relative numbers for production volume, revenue and jobs generated by its confectionery industry are impressive, as are the quality and uniqueness of the flavors, making the industry a major competitor in the international market, according to the association ABICAB.  

Together, the chocolate and confectionery segments represent an annual revenue of R$26 billion (or USD$ 8 billion), with the production volume for chocolate at 740,000 tons per year, and in the case of candy, the volume reaches 378,000 tons per year, and the industry generates approximately 60,000 job directly. This capacity for production and also for consumption has made Brazil the 6th largest confectionery market in the world and the fifth largest in the chocolate and sweets segment. This, therefore, indicates opportunities to win over consumers in the international market, with business being conducted in mature economies as well as emerging economies, with a growth projection for exportation of 3 percent per year.

With 74 years in the peanut market, the company Santa Helena has a diversified product line among sweets, snacks and culinary products, of which Paçoquita (in sweet, candy and paste versions) being one of the leaders in terms of sales with 1 million units sold per day. They have an industrial unit, located in Ribeirão Preto, inland São Paulo, which since 2012 has used a vertical manufacturing process, as well as a peanut refinement unit, in which the peanuts are received, dried, and classified, among rigorous quality control tests for aflatoxin in their laboratory. In total they employ around 1,500 workers.

In relation to exports, the company has consolidated the presence of their products in different markets, according to Mirella Figueiredo, export manager at Santa Helena: “Outside of Brazil we sell our entire portfolio of sweets and snacks, and our Paçoquita is present in countries in Europe, the United States and Japan.”

The factory for Chocolates Garoto, founded in 1929 and situated in the city of Vilha Velha, in the state of Espirito Santo, generates about 12,000 jobs (directly and indirectly). They have a diversified product line – tablets, bars, batons, bonbons and soluble powder – with more than 70 items, among which is the Serenata de Amor bonbon, whose production volume stands at 3.4 million units per day and is one of the most exported products.

The products from Garoto are adapted to the markets where they are sold, that is, in more than 40 countries. They continue to expand their operation abroad by entering new markets, most recently in Honduras and Kuwait, as well as maintaining their leadership of markets and/or product categories in South America.

Embaré, located in Lagoa da Prata, in the state of Minas Gerais, manufactures two groups of products, that of dairy products (powdered milk, milk cream, milk jam, butter etc.) and that of Caramels, composed of a diverse array of items, from chewy candy with varied fruit flavors, to toffees and milk caramels in flavors such as coconut, chocolate and yogurt etc. The company, which has been in the market for 81 years, today employs 1,600 workers directly and more than 300 indirectly from outsourcing companies, who work in the factory. They receive 2.4 million liters of milk every day to feed their production and they produce around 2,000 tons of caramels per month.

Embaré exports its product range to 45 countries, with their main markets currently being Russia, the United States, Canada, South Korea and Paraguay. In the first semester of this year, they exported 1,700 tons, a volume that is 21 percent above the figure registered in the same period for the previous year.