Chocolate production grew 13% last year, according to Abicab

SÃO PAULO-chocolate production began to show signs of improvement with the preliminary data for September, reported this Tuesday (7) the Brazilian Association of Chocolates, cocoa, peanuts, hard candies and derivatives (Abicab). In January to September 2016, producing advanced 13% compared with the same period of the previous year, to 393,400 tonnes.
"We started to recover the production of chocolate and the efforts of the industries were essential to provide the index of increase," said the President of Abicab, Dan Franco. The projection for the production and sale of chocolate at Easter this year has not yet been disclosed by the entity.
According to Abicab, the amount of chocolate for the 2017 Easter, the most important date of the year for the segment of chocolates, is still in production. "Last year, 14300 tonnes of chocolate were produced to date, equivalent to 58 million Easter eggs all over the country," stressed the Abicab. The volume, however, is less than 19700 tons manufactured to date in 2015.
Consumption
The Brazilian market occupies the fifth place in the overall ranking of chocolate with a per capita annual consumption of 2.5 pounds. "Among Brazilians, 63% have a habit of gift with chocolates on this date", revealed the Abicab, based on a survey commissioned by the sweeps.
From January to September 2016, the apparent consumption of chocolate in Brazil grew 12.2 percent to 391,800 tons.