European chocolate manufacturers aim to bite into China’s soft centre

An increasingly sophisticated taste for the finer things in life has boosted chocolate confectionery sales on the mainland by 39 per cent since the beginning of the global financial crisis.

The displays at Shanghai’s World Chocolate Wonderland include a terracotta army made of dark chocolate,a Shanghai skyscraper fashioned from white chocolate — complete with a brown Huangpu river flowing next to it — a chocolate bullet train and a white chocolate aircraft carrier. Europe’s confectioners are wooing the crowds with samples and demonstrations of the art of bonbon making.

Beijing is counting on mainlanders to boost spending on all manner of consumer goods – including cars,white goods and spirits – to sustain growthas the economy weans itself off dependence on exports.

China’s increasingly affluent consumers are boosting spending on fine chocolates,says Shaun Rein,author of The End of Cheap China.

More than half of China’s chocolate sales are for gifts. Christmas and next month’s Lunar New Year are the peak seasons. Mr Rein says costly confection fills a gap in traditional present buying. “When you don’t want to buy someone a Mont Blanc pen but you want to buy something more expensive than mooncakes [a traditional gift for the mid-autumn festival… chocolate hits a good market position. There just aren’t that many other prestige gift items in the $50-$200 range.”

Paul Chao of World Chocolate Wonderland says Chinese used to make do with low-quality chocolate,but as they — especially their children — travel more,they are developing a taste for finer European varieties.

Euromonitor estimates that in China the chocolate confectionery market has grown 38 per cent in value since 2008,while the global chocolate market grew less than 10 per cent.

© 2011 The Financial Times Limited