Japanese Confectionery— 2000 Snack Report The Japanese term kashi encompasses sweet and savory snack foods, including candy, chocolate, chewing gum and baked goods. CONFECTIONERY neither Eastern Europe nor Asia (except Japan) is The confectionery industry performed well over the included in the list, this is not a complete consumption decade, exceeding the average increase of the entire ranking by country. Overall, it shows a slight increase in kashi industry of 0.05% for the period. This has been the world base, since U.S. and European chocolate con- led by expansion of the chewing gum market segment, sumption increase nearly every year. Annual produc- while candy and caramel have declined. tion figures of major makers in Europe and America vary because of global production shifts, especially in CHOCOLATE the EU. The chocolate industry in Japan during the last decade The Japanese share of total volume is about 5 per- mirrored domestic economic trends. When the rapidly cent. The percent of total global market will decrease growing economy of the early ’90s slowed abruptly in when totals from South America (excluding Brazil), 1992–1993, chocolate industry growth also declined, Mexico, Canada, the Middle East, Asia and India are eventually showing only a slight increase over factored in. 1990–1997. Japanese consumption per capita is ranked at second However, production and consumption showed strong from the bottom. However, the industry has potential growth rates from 1998 to 2001, particularly in 1999 and a simple comparison is difficult because of the (5.3% increase in production; 5.1% increase in sales) unique cultural tradition of kashi. Consumption has and 2000 (8.2% and 5.9% respectively). In 2000, pro- already increased from 1.5 kg to 1.65 kg per capita, but duction hit 200,000 tons for the first time ever, exceed- lags noticeably behind the EU level of 8–9 kg. ing well over ¥300 billion (US $2.26 billion, €2.59 bil- lion). This was fueled by the successful introduction of Barriers to Growth branded mousse sticks such as Meiji Fran and Glico The price of chocolate in Japan is still expensive com- Mousse Pocky. pared to the rest of the world. In Europe and the United States the current average price per gram is ¥1. In Japan, Japanese Consumption 70 grams of Meiji Milk Chocolate sells for ¥100 The following table ranks a dozen major chocolate-pro- (US$0.75, €0.86), as does 75 grams of Lotte Ghana Chocolate. An average unit price of imported choco- ducing countries by consumption, including Japan. As ➤ The Manufacturing Confectioner • March 2002 23.