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| Edited By: Shailaja Sharma |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 30, 2018, 03:42 AM IST
For obscure cocoa traders, the society is scripting a fantastic bull run.
On the one hand, consumer demand for chocolates and chocolate-based delicacies in the country is surging with every passing day.
On the other, cocoa is finding its way into beauty parlours (chocolate face pack!) and pharmaceuticals.
Demand is such, cocoa product manufacturers say, the market in India can grow 100 times over the next 4-5 years.
Cocoa-based chocolates, in recent years, started replacing the ethnic sweetmeat gifting habit in India.
Domestic demand for chocolates, say traders, has grown 5 times in the last two decades.
“Up till 1990, the demand for chocolate was minuscule. In the last 3-4 years, it has risen and a number of individual-run chocolate brands are fuelling consumption. The industry can grow by 100 times in 4-5 years,” a cocoa trader in Mumbai said, not wishing to be named.
Many cocoa product manufacturers are therefore on the lookout for newer avenues to grow.
One of these is Silverline Cocoa & Food Industries in Mumbai, which supplies cocoa powder and liquid chocolate to biscuit and cake makers, five-star hotels and cottage industries.
“First we supplied to manufacturers of ice creams, biscuits and chocolates. Now, beauty parlours and beauty services companies are emerging as a new clientele. Even the pharmaceutical sector has started using cocoa in some of their formulations,” said B Desai, partner, Silverline Cocoa & Food Industries, said.
This growth is despite cocoa prices rising all over the world due to declining global production.
There is a total demand for 12,000 tonnes of cocoa in India, but current availability is only 7,000 tonnes, said John P John, head of Agro Products & Agencies, a Kerala-based supplier of cocoa beans and cocoa products.
“We have been in the business for over 30 years and demand has definitely surged in recent times. From supplying cocoa beans in India to exporting and now to making chocolates, we have expanded in a big way,” John said.
Even small chocolatiers that do not retail their offerings are booming as orders from corporate houses and consumers keep flowing in.
Priyanka Gupta, managing director of Delhi-based Chocolics, which makes custom-made premium chocolates, says her company is witnessing a sales growth of not less than 25-30% year on year.
“There has been a big change in demand for chocolates in the last five years. People are interested in gifting chocolate boxes not just for festivals but for occasions like weddings and baby shower parties. Traditional sweets have taken a back seat,” Gupta said.
Mumbai-based chocolatier Zeba Kohli of Fantasie Fine Chocolate, however, does not think the legendary Indian sweettooth is ready to trade the traditional mithais yet even as chocolates are becoming the inevitable choice of gifting during festivities.
“For chocolates, it is just the start and we have miles to go. It is still a nascent market. I do not think that chocolates can replace traditional mithais,” Kohli said.
Another chocolate retailer, Bangalore-based Diva, is trying to maintain pace with the surge in demand for chocolate gifting.
“There is no time now during the festival period. We are running production from early morning till late in the night. And this will go on till the first week of January,” owner Shivaram said.
India’s per capita consumption of chocolate is tiny in comparison to that of the US or European countries and this translates into a huge opportunity for the cocoa product manufacturers; said Kapil Garg, chief executive officer, Shellz Overseas, which manufactures chocolate slabs and cocoa products for industry players.
Another emerging trend, according to Garg, will be designer chocolates. “We are poised for great growth and many companies are now making their way into cocoa products business. Next, we plan to introduce designer chocolates for which consumers are willing to pay a premium in price,” Garg said.
