Chocolate first discovered in South America can now be found in every country around the globe.  They have been around for many centuries and remain the favorite of individuals around the globe.  Chocolates are made from cocoa beans and are mostly produced in Indonesia, Ghana, Brazil and Cameroon. There are different types of chocolate such as dark chocolate, white chocolate, milk chocolate, sweet dark chocolate, unsweetened chocolate etc.

The U.S. chocolate industry is worth $20 billion. The industry is mature, differentiated and a demanding in food category, which has made it a difficult task for the marketers of chocolate products to distinguish themselves from the competition. In U.S the prices of retail have risen which is mainly due to the rise in the input costs. The global chocolate market is expected to be worth more than $95 billion by the year 2016.  Asia is expected to witness a rise in demand and account for 20% of the global share with Japan leading the Asian share. Europe is also expected to have a rise in demand mainly attributed to UK and Germany. The top exporters for chocolate cocoa preparation are Germany Belgium, France, Netherlands, Canada, United States, Italy, Switzerland and Ireland.  The top importers for chocolate cocoa preparations are France, United States, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, Japan, Italy, Spain and Austria.

Some of the famous brands include Dairy Milk, Galaxy, Hershey’s, Kit Kat, Krackel, Toblerone, Twix, Milky bar, Milky Way, Almond Joy, Mars, M&M’s etc. Mars is the leading brand of chocolate in China. The Premium and specialty chocolates have shown a strong and significant growth over the long-term. There had been a shift away from premium chocolates during the recession period but as the economy recovered the sales of premium chocolates rose again. The key driver of this industry is that majority of the population are under twenty years of age hence the consumers which mostly comprise of children will demand more. Also another trend witnessed is increased demand from the middle aged people for healthy bars; hence opportunity lies in this segment.  The challenge to this industry is that chocolate is linked to health problem like causing obesity. Also chocolate can be addictive which is mainly the reason why it is consumed in smaller quantities. In the future with stricter regulations and consumers being more health conscious will demand more healthy ingredients  The quantities sold will be smaller mainly for the reason of limited cocoa production. To substitute this, the use of artificial cocoa will be on the rise.