Why this 12 months will the most costly nougat be chocolate? | Business | EUROtoday

The nougats attain the supermarkets, the Christmas lights of Vigo activate and Mariah Carey’s pop carol begins to play on the radio: the inevitable countdown to Christmas has begun. Every 12 months, the nougats return dwelling slightly earlier for the vacations. And, with the product positioned since October, the sector plans to comply with the lead of 2023 and shut a superb marketing campaign, marked this 12 months by the rise within the worth of cocoa.

“Without yet having an established figure, the prospects are quite optimistic,” says Rubén Moreno, basic secretary of the Spanish Sweets Association (Produlce), to which firms akin to Delaviuda, Torrons Vicens or Lacasa belong, by telephone. Distribution, a channel by way of which greater than 90% of nougat gross sales cross, has made a powerful dedication to the product, and its associates hope to proceed on the trail of development after billing, along with marzipan, virtually 348 million per 12 months. final 12 months, 6.9% greater than in 2022. “This campaign is going a little better than the previous one, although it is early,” says, for his half, Federico Moncunill, secretary basic of the Council Regulator of Nougat from Jijona and Alicante, which represents labels from the realm akin to Picó, El Lobo and 1880. Orders from distributors have translated, within the case of merchandise with these designations of origin, into a rise in manufacturing between 3% and 4% in comparison with the earlier 12 months, wherein gross sales – of which round 65% correspond to personal labels – amounted to 65 million. With the remainder of the sweets, the earnings of the member firms amounted to about 400 million.

After inflation punished pockets within the final two years, 2024 is giving the business and consumers some respite. “Last 12 months maybe I noticed the marketing campaign slightly extra advanced, with inflation and all this. Like a extra rational Christmas, if doable,” says Isabel Sánchez, executive director of Delaviuda, responsible for this brand’s nougat and El Almendro, who believes that the drop in interest rates and price containment will encourage consumption. . “At the moment we do not have any external factor that makes us think about a little caution,” says Rubén López, general director of Confectionary Holding, the group that owns El Lobo and 1880, which also alludes to a certain economic stability, willingness and ability to spend. on these dates.

At Torrons Vicens they hope to validate last season’s good results: “With what we’ve got achieved, the forecast we’ve got for our purchasers and the deliveries we’re making, we estimate a marketing campaign between good and superb,” says its owner, Ángel Velasco. . Meanwhile, in Picó, more cautious, they foresee a continuous line: “It will be more or less similar to that of the previous year. We do not expect growth nor decreases,” says Paco López, commercial director of Turrones Picó.

The stone on the way to the shelves this year has been cocoa: the drop in production, mainly due to climate issues, together with speculation meant that it was sold at a gold price. Although the industry has taken charge of part of this increase, the labels of products that contain chocolate will show higher figures this holiday season. “The sector is doing everything possible to ensure that this impact is minimal,” says Sánchez. “If we manufacturers had not assumed a part, we would be talking about minimum increases of 50% for all products,” adds López, from Picó.

Although the kings are still the classics, the hard and the soft, one of the main trends, linked to younger consumers and a less seasonal purchase, has a cocoa flavor. “What has been noticed in the last three years is the indulgence towards chocolate,” says López, of Confectionary Holding. “It has pulled the sector quite a bit.” The industry adapts and evolves with demand, but without giving up its DNA. “A traditional nougat can never be missing from a Christmas table,” considers Velasco.

Leaving aside the debate about whether the new products are nougats or not – in which Moncunill defends that the regulations allow them to be called that, but that in reality they are pralines far from the original concept -, a part of the industry innovates with unusual flavors, such as stout, ham or gin with strawberries. There is also a commitment to fewer sugars and different formats, all to reach an audience that has not yet connected with those traditional aromas, concerned about diet, or for those who end up with the tablet half eaten. “It is a sector in which we are increasingly dynamic, we use a lot of imagination and creativity,” says the general director of Confectionary Holding. Having a large catalog is a risk factor for an industry whose highest sales are concentrated in practically one month, but it is also a weapon to reduce seasonality.

three weeks

The harvesting of almonds in September and the high price of the sweet, which reserved it for specific dates, meant that nougat and Easter went hand in hand, a binomial that remains today. “80% of sales are made in the national market. And of that 80%, 70% or 75% in just three weeks,” says Moreno. Moncunill points to similar figures: “80% of sales occur in the month of December.”

In recent years, the sector has rolled up its sleeves to reduce this seasonality and new avenues have been opened, such as the incorporation of Jijona nougat as an ingredient in other products or in gastronomic preparations. Or strategies that look at clients outside our borders. “It is possible to deseasonalize nougat, but through other markets, other channels and another type of consumer,” says Sánchez, from Delaviuda. The general director of Picó agrees: “I believe that Spanish customers have it deeply ingrained that nougat is a Christmas product, and it is rather tough for us to vary that chip.”

In addition to exports – accountable for a fifth of the turnover of Produlce firms and round 13% amongst Alicante producers – is the positioning in locations akin to airports and the opening of its personal shops, akin to these of Casa 1880 or Torrons Vicens. In the case of the latter, for instance, its institutions and the international market have led it to cut back seasonal gross sales by as much as 60%. Their recipe: flip nougat right into a dessert, with a number of selection in order that the patron feels comfy shopping for it at any time of the 12 months. “That and we have turned nougat into a gastronomic souvenir,” says Velasco.