Chocolate Consumption And Penetration
Per capita consumption of chocolates and confectionery in India is minuscule at 20gms in India as compared to around 5-8 kgs and 8-10 kgs respectively in most European countries.
Penetration of chocolate products averages at 4.2% at all India level.
Consumption is concentrated in large metros with population of over 1mn, where penetration is comparatively higher at 15.4%.
Penetration in small and medium size towns averages 9-10%.
In rural areas, the products are perceived as conspicuous consumption and poor value for money. Penetration is understandably low at 1.9%.
Confectionery products such as hard-boiled sweets, toffees, mint, chewing/ bubble gums on the whole have penetrated in 14.2% of Indian households.
Urban penetration is 23% and rural penetration is 10.7%.
The penetration of boiled sweets/ toffee/ mint is 10.3% in urban areas and 7% in rural areas, whereas the same for chewing/bubble gums is 8.7% in urban areas and 2.5% in rural areas. In relative terms, the penetration is higher in large and medium size towns/cities.
Confectionery products sold in rural areas are largely from unorganized local players. Awareness about chocolates is very high in urban areas at over 95%.
In rural areas, awareness about confectionery products is significantly higher at 80-90% compared to chocolate awareness at 30-40%. Due to the small size of rural market, most players have not extended their distribution network to rural areas.
A part of consumption therefore is represented by the products brought from urban areas, by male members who work in cities and visit their village periodically.