In Spain, eating chocolate is becoming a luxury. And that has begun to take its toll on your consumption

Despite price swings And that the tablets no longer take the deficated rhythm of A few months agothe chocolate market continues to cross turbulence. The latest IPC data show that eating chocolate today comes out 19% more expensive that a year ago, which threatens to convert the chocolates and chocolates into (almost) a luxury. Consumption is not falling to the same extent in which prices rise, but the industry begins to understand a reality: demand, even the very very chocolate, It is not immune to inflation.

The big question is now … Will prices continue to upload?

A percentage: -13%. They do not run good times for cocoa and chocolate lovers. It is something that We have been saying. Your crisis responds to A mixture of factors that transcend Spain, but still the data that are coming from the national market help to better understand its evolution and perspectives.

One of the last clues is the INE in your price index August. It shows that both chocolate and cocoa powder continue to make more expensive. The first is today 13.1% more expensive than in January and 18.8% more than a year ago. In the case of the second, the product that is marketed in dust, the percentages are respectively at 10 and 11.8%. They are not as strong increases as those of a few months ago, when the interannual chocolate climb touched 25%but still far exceed General Food CPIwhich barely grew 1.8%.

Consumption, in retreat. The price is not the only clue we have to understand the chocolate situation in Spain. Moreover, there is another equally important (or even more) indicator that is directly related to the evolution of costs: demand. And this is also far from moving in positive values.

As the price of chocolates, tablets, nougat and other cocoa products rose, its demand was contracted. And what, how has you denounced Facua, at least part of the sector attempted to compensate for raw materials through a strategy of “Redouflation”which basically consists in reducing the size of the product without touching its price. At the end of 2024, for example, the organization detected that practice in Christmas sweets.

And how does demand evolve? If we talk about chocolates, cocoa and their derivatives, the data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food draw a negative curve. Your study ‘Food consumption in Spain’prepared with data from 2024, shows that last year we buy less than the previous one. The fall was 4.4%, although in the specific case of per capita consumption the setback was higher, 5.6%staying at about 3.03 kilos per individual and year.

“In the long term, the purchase of these products by Spanish households decreases, because 4.7% less chocolates/cacaos are bought than with respect to 2008,” Precian From map, which clarify in any case that this setback does not affect the entire sector equally. In fact, it is concentrated in derivatives, which retreat 10%. Chocolates grew 6.2%.

Four of the 2024 food report published by the Government.

Are there more updated data? Yes. And although the figures change the sign, negative. Updated data The Ministry on Food Consumption shows that in the mobile year at the end of the first quarter (March 24-March 25) the demand for chocolates and cocoa in Spain had reduced 6.1%, leaving per capita intake by 2.96 kg. A year earlier that indicator was greater: 3.19 kg.

Now, that fall leaves a positive reading for the industry: chocolate is enduring the price increase well. Or at least he is not suffering as much as he could. It is reflected by another report published in July by Nielseniq, which esteem That the demand for sweets in general has contracted 2.6%, that of chocolate 3.2%and that of cocoa 1.7%. It may seem a lot, but it shows an amazing resistance of the product if one takes into account that in a few years it reached take up 30%.

Less consumption, more expense. The Data from the Ministry of Food They show a curious trend in the chocolate sector, one that is probably explained by that decoupling between the rhythm to which prices rise and to which demand lowers. In 2024 we might have bought less chocolate, cocoa and derived products, but if we talk about the money moved in the market the data is superior.

“In terms of value, the category closes with an increase of 6.4%, which means a gain of 86.5 million euros for the industry,” Confirm the mapwhich has also found the increase in ounces throughout the year 2024. “The average price of these products is € 10.11/kilo, a figure that is 11.3% greater than last year, an increase of € 1.02/kilo.”

Millions of millions (which). The Photo of the year included between the months of March 2024 and 2025 is similar. The millions of kilos of chocolate that moved in the industry fall, but the millions of euros of billing rise. To be precise, the first indicator retreated 6.1%. The second grew by 7.1%.

In fact it is one of the greatest increases between the categories identified by Map in its latest report. Only the prepared dishes (10.8%), olive oil (11.8%), frozen potatoes (11.9%), some fresh fruits (8%) and part of the wine industry, although with lower billing levels, are exceeded.

How does the industry respond? Recently, coinciding with the World Chocolate DayEfe published a balance that shows that (despite everything) the chocolate industry is maintaining its sales and enduring the guy. It does so in thanks to exports. According to the data it manages, in 2024 consumption grew by 7.5% in value while its volume was reduced by 3.9%.

I wish They stand out That data and remember that in 2023 the difference between spending and volume was more pronounced. “There is an effort, since profitability is reduced by the cost of raw material.” For the Spanish industry cocoa and chocolate are crucial and represent the first source for production value of the sweet sector. The sector has also managed to improve its exports.

And now, what? That is the big question that the industry and the market flies. In a recent Produlce report Recognize that consumption descended last year (according to its calculations, 8.6%), although the expense per person increased by 5.5%. The unknown now is how both indicators (in addition to the price) will respond now that the market seems Give signs of deceleration, as reflected in the latest data on contribution and futures of Trading Economics platform.

“I am sure that companies are fully aware and will try to have any benefit also to the consumer,” Rubén Moreno claimsDoctor of Produlce, in the SER chain. “It is true that now cocoa has given us a certain respite, but it is also that, if we look at it with a time a little larger, in relation to the last two or three years, it is still in quotes that are around double, so the pressure is not over.”

Images | Tamas Pap (Unspash) and MAP

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