The Confectionery Manufacturers of Australasia (CMA) predict a combination of local and global pricing pressures on a range of ingredients will raise the price of confectionery in the near future.
“During the past 12 months there have been significant increases across a range of raw materials that make up the core ingredients in confectionery,” CMA’s chief executive officer David Greenwood said. “As with many other food products which have had their prices raised in recent months, it is no longer possible to prevent the costs of confectionery inputs from being passed on to retailers and consumers by manufacturers in Australia and New Zealand.”
Price increases are said to vary from product to product, depending on ingredients and quality.
Continuing civil war in the Ivory Coast has contributed to price spikes in cocoa and milk production has been affected by severe drought conditions in 2006 and 2007. “Milk production is expected to be down 9.4 billion litres with no reduction in overall demand and stock feed bills are estimated to have increased by as much as 43%”, Greenwood said.
An increased demand in nuts such as almonds over the past year has also led to significant increases in global pricing, according to Greenwood.