Germany’s Chocolate Industry
The thing which which surprised me the most about the German economy is that its most significant agricultural export is chocolate. This increase in exports started in 2000. as shown in the graph below.
History
Chocolate originally got to Germany via Spanish trader who brought to back in 1600s from the Americas. It was used by the Germans as medicine to cure many diseases. The idea of making it a dessert in Germany first came about thanks to a Dutch man named Jan Jantz von Huesden. He opened a shop in Bremen to sell cholate. after this shop opened in 1647 cholates poularty sedly grew and Germany companies were created over the years to meet this demand the biggest companies are: Ritter, Moser Roth, Merci and, Hachez.
Today, Germany exports 86% of its chocolates to Europe, where the largest country is France, and 13% of its European exports. Today the chocolate industry in Germany only makes up 0.26% of total exports. It is a small part of the economy and is in one of the most competitive markets in Europe. German companies such as Moser Roth, Merci, and Hachez have to compete with other large players in the EU. The biggest competitors are mostly from switerland such as Barry Callebaut and Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli. The German chocolate market today is on the rise and has grown almost seven-fold in the last 25 years.
Germany is currently the biggest exporter of chocolate with 5.26B dallers worth per year. The second largest exporter Belgium has only 3.46B in exports. The current day place of german chocolate is very good and in the future Germanies chocolate export market looks very promising and is expected to grow by 4.9% by the end of 2024. German companies have gained a reputation for good quality chocolate and affordable prices. The reputation of German cholate is also on the rise and because of this is expected total GDP to grow to 13.1B by 2030.
Why German chocolate is different
Germany is different from other manufacturers because of the chocolates focus on constant improvement of machinery and using high quality ingredients such as cane sugar and higher coco contant than other manufactures.
Overall, the German chocolate export market is very interesting. As the reputation of the Germanies Chocolate porous continues it could grow in size and enveunly get to 1% of the germany export economy. They currently are leading the world with there considered to be one of the world's best chocolate makers
https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/germany-chocolate-market
https://europe.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/759/2017/03/Germany-1.pdf
https://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/countries/61/export-basket
https://www.iamexpat.de/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/german-chocolate-brands-to-savour