FDBusiness.com

Mondelēz International is entering China’s $2.8 billion chocolate market. Europe’s much-loved Milka brand will hit shelves in September with more than a dozen core products, alongside special editions created for seasonal occasions, as the company looks to capitalize on China’s growing love for chocolate.

Mondelēz International is one of the world’s largest chocolate companies, with a portfolio of iconic brands, including Milka, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Côte d’Or, Lacta and Toblerone. The move into China will enhance and accelerate the company’s growth plan, by introducing a global Power Brand to one of the world’s biggest markets.

“When we launched our growth plan last year, we said we’d focus on geographic white spaces where we could accelerate the growth of our core categories and Power Brands,” says Tim Cofer, chief growth officer at Mondelēz International. “This is a perfect example of that plan in action — launching a snacking category where we’re already a world leader into an emerging market where we have an established, successful presence.”

He adds: “We see enormous potential for the growth of the chocolate category in China, where consumption today is low — even by emerging market standards. We expect our industry-leading innovation, manufacturing, sales and marketing capabilities to attract more consumers, more often — growing our business and the category.”

Stephen Maher, president of Mondelez China, comments: “We’ve been operating in China for over 30 years so we know this market and what it takes to launch a business here. In 2012, we entered the gum category in China for the first time and have now built this into a $200 million business with two much-loved brands. The strength of our iconic Milka brand, combined with a winning recipe uniquely designed for Chinese consumers gives us great confidence that we’ll be successful with chocolate in China, too.”