The Confectionery Industry in South Africa 2024

This report on chocolate and sugar confectionery includes information on the state of the industry, increasing input costs and prices, competition issues including those from imports of cheap products, trade, and notable players.

There are profiles of 19 companies including international players such as Nestle and Mondelez, large local manufacturers such as Tiger Brands and Premier, and other manufacturers such as Richester Foods, Sally Williams and Ferrero.

Introduction

• Increased chocolate and sugar confectionery revenue over the last few years has reflected price increases rather than volume growth.
• Price increases have been driven by inflation and higher electricity and raw material costs.
• Consumers are buying down.
• Strong competition from private label products resulted in branded sugar confectionery products losing market share.
• The industry is made up of many different scales of manufacturing, including multinationals and diverse local businesses.
• Challenges include high sugar prices, supply interruptions, power supply issues and financially constrained consumers.

Trends

• Branded sugar confectionery products have been losing sales to cheap private label products.
• Challenging economic climate, especially inflation, is pushing consumers to buy cheap products.
• Shrinkflation - as raw materials prices continue to increase, manufacturers are charging the same price for less product, to maintain revenue.

Opportunities

• Affordable products for price-sensitive consumers.
• Increasing alternatives to appeal to more health-conscious consumers.

Challenges

• Growing imports of cheap confectionery.
• High input costs.
• Increasing health concerns.
• Ongoing loadshedding.

Market Outlook

• The poor economy and pressure on disposable income will see people trading down to more affordable brands and private label or stop buying non-essential products.
• The provision of affordable sugar confectionery is an opportunity for the industry.
• Informal traders are expected to continue to put pressure on the formal retail market due to price and convenience.
• Although sugar confectionery was expected to record single-digit revenue growth in 2023, higher unit prices were expected to drive down retail volumes.
• Chocolate sales are expected to continue slowing.