Mondelēz to launch Milka brand in China
Chocolate giant Mondelēz International is to enter China’s $2.8 billion chocolate market by introducing its European brand Milka in the country in September.
The company, which also owns the Cadbury Dairy Milk, Côte d’Or, Lacta and Toblerone brands, said more than a dozen core Milka products will be available, as well as seasonal editions, as Mondelēz looks to capitalise on China’s growing love for chocolate.
It added that the move will enhance and accelerate the group’s growth plan. When Mondelēz launched its growth plan last year, it said it would focus on geographic white spaces where it could accelerate the growth of its core categories and power brands.
“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,” said chief growth officer Tim Cofer.
“We see enormous potential for the growth of the chocolate category in China, where consumption today is low — even by emerging market standards.”
The company, which has been operating in China for over 30 years, entered the country’s gum category in 2012, building it into a $200m business with two popular brands.
Stephen Maher, president at Mondelēz China, added, “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.”
Separately, the company posted a 14.3% increase in second-quarter net earnings to reach $464m, despite net revenues and margin declines.
Net revenues declined 17.7% to $6.30bn, due to the deconsolidation of the coffee business, currency headwinds and deconsolidation of the company’s Venezuela operations.
However, organic net revenues climbed 1.5%, driven by pricing to recover currency-driven input costs in inflationary markets and improvement in overall volume/mix trends.
Meanwhile, gross profit margin fell 10 basis points to 39.9%, weighed down primarily by the negative impact from deconsolidation of the coffee business.
