Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Info provided and translated by the
American Chamber of Commerce of Peru (AmCham Peru)

Therefore, marketing analysts of the main producers invest huge amounts of money in developing products that may capture the attention of both teenagers and baby boomers. Teenagers represent nowadays 7.3% of the population while it is expected that bay boomers will increase their importance as consumers of this kind of product in the future, especially for dark, organic and gourmet chocolates. The news spread by a newspaper of the Medical Association in the United States revealed that dark chocolate consumption benefits the heart because of the content of substances named flavonoids that reduce blood coagulation. Without doubt this information impacted positively in the consumption of adults and elderly people.

Then, if we analyze the imports of chocolate of the Unites States in the past years, we observe a growing demand, especially for chocolate bars or blocks not filled that experienced an increase of 115% between 2002 and 2006. However, the imports of chocolate bars or blocks filled grew by 6% in the same period. In the first case Canada is the leading supplier in the market and concentrates 72% of the total imported while in the case of filled chocolates is responsible for only 25%.

Nowadays Peru exports this product to the United States and even this is not the main market, an increasing tendency is observed. In the case of chocolates not filled the exported value grew by 580% while in filled ones the expansion amounted 68% between 2005 and 2006. In this spectacular evolution it is necessary to enhance the boom observed in chocotejas, exports thanks to the incursion of the company Helena.

Then it is evident that despite this market is absorbed by big companies this is another export opportunity that we may exploit under the Peru- United States Trade Agreement preferences. Obviously, to succeed in this market it is necessary to consider that you should not try to compete with the big brands because, besides having very low prices they invest enormous amounts of money on their image. So, the recommended strategy is to attack the market niches for gourmet chocolates and those prepared with organic cacao.