Mihai Georgescu, general manager of Wrigley Romania, says he expects the domestic candy market to triple over the next 5-10 years, and eventually come into line with the chewing gum market.
Wrigley Romania, a subsidiary of the world's biggest producer of chewing gum, generated sales worth 204.8m RON (61.4m euros) last year, up 21% year on year.
"The year 2007 brought us the most significant turnover growth of the past 5-6 years. The trend of Wrigley Romania sales was primarily encouraged by the increase in consumption registered amid stronger purchasing power and a greater selection of offers on the confectionery market," said Georgescu.
Wrigley's most prominent rivals in Romania, Cadbury and Perfetti Van Melle, have their own domestic production facilities. Another Romanian-held producer, Feleacul, is a competitor on the candy drops market. Last year, Cadbury made an impressive entrance onto the sugary products market, after it acquired producer Kandia-Excelent, but has yet to enter the chewing gum segment. Internationally, Cadbury is an important rival to Wrigley on both the chewing gum and candy drops segments.
The jelly and mints segments brought Wrigley's domestic subsidiary the biggest increases.
In 2007, the company registered a 40% market share on the candy segment and thus reached the target set in 2006.
Over the next 5-10 years Georgescu expects the confectionery segment to increase at least three times against the current level.
During this period, chewing gum sales are expected to see a less spectacular increase given that this segment is in a less advanced stage of development. Annual chewing gum consumption in Romania stood at 72 gum sticks/capita, according to the data supplied by Wrigley. In comparison, Poland registered a similar level of consumption, but the Czech Republic posted a level of 106 sticks/capita.
Last year, the domestic chewing gum market increased by around 13-15%, according to Wrigley estimates. In terms of the number of products, Wrigley Romania owns one of the US producer's largest local portfolios. However, Georgescu says there is still enough room on the market for new products. At present, the domestic portfolio includes almost 100 products, all of which are imported, because the company does not have a domestic production facility.
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