Market Data & Overview
Chocolate confectionery is an important and dynamic market, expected to be worth over $128 billion in global retail sales by the end of 2023, with volume growth of 1.9% CAGR over the next 3 years to 20251. In Southeast Asia, revenue in the chocolate confectionery market amounts to US$28.56bn in 2023 and is expected
to value US$41.21bn in 2028. The market is expected to grow annually by 7.61% (CAGR 2023-2028)7.
Source: Statista, 20237
Market Consumer Survey
Chocolate is more than just food. Eating it is a rich, multi-sensorial journey, perfect for those looking for novel, exciting experiences, for seekers of tailor-made treats, and for fans of the finer things in life. Whether it’s a new texture beyond the common crunchy or smooth, a stylish invention, or a new way of consumption, chocolate innovation is sure to pique the senses1.
· New & Exciting – 70% of APAC consumers want to try new and exciting chocolate.
· The Perfect Fit – 64% of APAC consumers would like to have more tailor-made chocolate.
· Stories & Origin – 53% of APAC consumers are attentive to the origin of food and beverages.
· A Preference for Premium – 61% of APAC consumers actively seek out premium versions of their favourites chocolates.
· Multiple Textures & Flavours – More than 60% of APAC consumers prefer chocolate that have multiple textures and flavours.
“Cocoa is very much in favour amongst investors at the moment”
Victoria Scholar
Head of Investment, Interactive Investor3
Problems Confronting the Chocolate Confectionery Industry – Crystallization, Inclusions, and Viscosity.
Many confectionery producers face problems when reformulating to create healthier products that are in demand in more and more markets. Going from high-saturated fat to low-saturated fat solutions often means stability and crystallization problems in confectionery products, just as going from fast crystallizing fats to slow crystallizing fats is a well-known challenge4. Crystallization that is too fast or too slow leads to changes in the viscosity of the masses and varying cooling duration. This, in turn, can lead to considerable production problems in article forming and final cooling of the products2.
Another challenge in producing consistently good-quality chocolate is inclusions and viscosity problems. When adding inclusions to a chocolate recipe, the chocolate’s viscosity profile requires adjustment. On the one hand, a more liquid viscosity profile is required. If not, incorrect viscosity may produce uneven surfaces or holes in the chocolate8 (Figure 1).
Figure 2: Migration of nut oil makes the chocolate bloom5.
Why? One of the reasons is due to adding physical solids or inclusions into a chocolate can cause a blocking within the container. Moreover, adding chopped nut pieces will add even more surface area that needs to be covered in the chocolate fat phase. To overcome these challenges, a lower viscosity of chocolate profile is needed to enable it to live up to the physical requirements of a mould containing inclusions5.
However, the challenges do not end there. Nuts, for example, are high in nut oil and happily allow some of this fat content to migrate to the chocolate, giving a greyish or whitish streak on the surface of the chocolate, or called as chocolate bloom. Figure 2 provides an example of fat blooming, with nut oil migrating into milk chocolate and blooming spreading out from the nut inclusions5.
Figure 2: Migration of nut oil makes the chocolate bloom5.
What can be done to overcome these challenges?
1. Palsgaard® Crystal Promoter – An ultimate crystal-promoting solution4
- Palsgaard® CrystalPromoter 41 is specially designed to promote and stabilize crystallization in confectionery products by reducing the initial migration and faster de-moulding. Due to its powder form, it is easy to melt and distribute in confectionery productions. Instead of losing 30- 50% speed during cooling, only 10-15% will be lost when using Palsgaard® Crystal Promoter 414.
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Key Features and Benefits
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2. Palsgaard® PGPR – Best tool for controlling flow properties4,5
- Adding the Palsgaard PGPR series can help to achieve chocolates without air bubbles while improving the distribution within mouldings including the moulding of chocolate inclusions. The hydrophilic of PGPR finds the water, lubricating sugar surfaces with a fat-like coating and causing friction between particles to be lowered. Thus, it will result in a more consistent quality of chocolate products6.
- All these Palsgaard® PGPR products are completely free from off-flavour, securing the chocolate manufacturer a better chocolate product. Palsgaard offers four types of PGPR (E476) for chocolate and compounds as below:
- Palsgaard® PGPR 4190 – Newest, most advanced, and exclusively designed for chocolate producers. Provides better enrobing, very low-fat formulations, precise control overflow properties, and stable viscosity reduction.
- Palsgaard® PGPR 4150 – Highly functional PGPR available. It’s the best solution for demanding applications such as enrobing, very low-fat formulations, and precise control overflow properties and quality. Its outstanding effect on yield value helps to control flow properties even in low-fat chocolates.
- Palsgaard® PGPR 4125 – Famous for its proven viscosity-reducing power uniformity. Enabling a smooth, problem-free production of chocolate and compound products. It also provides a stable, consistent product performance, reducing yield value and ensuring an easy flow of the chocolate.
- Palsgaard® PGPR 4120 – Provides a number of useful properties. Meticulous efforts have been made to reduce raw material and process costs while maintaining the product’s essential characteristics.
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Key Features and Benefits
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Success in a nutshell
Choosing ingredients that do good brings perfection to your products. Emulsifiers are one of the key ingredients for chocolate products to optimize flow properties, reduce costs, and increase stability.
At DPO International, we as a full-suite market enabler, collaborate with leading specialized food ingredient producers, Palsgaard®, provides you with a range of emulsifiers series to help you transform these trends into innovative brand concepts, from ideation to the manufacturing stage, providing solutions and support throughout each phase.
References:
- Barry Callebaut. (2023). Top Chocolate Trends for 2023 and Beyond. https://www.barry-callebaut.com/en/manufacturers/trends-insights/top-chocolate-trends#download
- (n.d). How to cope with quality control in the chocolate industry. https://www.brabender.com/en/applications/food-feed/chocolate-industry-quality-control/#:~:text=Crystallization%20that%20is%20too%20fast,final%20cooling%20of%20the%20products.
- (2021). Chocolate, the billion euro industry that tastes good and does good. Retrieved from https://www.euronews.com/next/2021/11/24/chocolate-the-billion-euro-industry-that-tastes-good-and-does-good
- (n.d). Crystal promoters for confectionery products. Chocolate & Confectionery Emulsifiers. https://www.palsgaard.com/en/solutions/confectionery/crystal-promoters.
- (n.d). How to get control over your chocolate inclusions. Technical article. https://backoffice.palsgaard.com/media/3fqfcadc/how-to-get-control-over-your-chocolate-inclusions.pdf
- (n.d). PGPR – the chocolate maker’s best tool for controlling flow properties. https://www.palsgaard.com/en/food-emulsifiers-and-stabilisers/solutions/chocolate-confectionery/pgpr-for-optimum-viscosity-control/
- (2023). Chocolate Confectionery – Southeast Asia. Industry Report.
- Why you need expanded rheology information and emulsifier functionality in chocolate production. Technical article. https://backoffice.palsgaard.com/media/dtobcype/why-you-need-expanded-rheology-information-and-emulsifier-functionality-in-chocolate-production.pdf
