Exclusive: Placing the future of confectionery at the heart of the World Confectionery Conference
Can Buharali, of Mondelez, and also president of Caobisco confectionery trade association returns to speak at the 2025 edition of the World Confectionery Conference. Pic: Dafos Photography
As president of Caobisco trade organisation and being part of Mondelez International’s key policy operations certainly ensures Can Buharali remains exceptionally busy. Editor Neill Barston catches up with him ahead of his return as a keynote to our World Confectionery Conference.
Having opened our last edition of the World Confectionery Conference as one of his first official engagements upon taking up his post as president of Caobisco, Can Buharali certainly relishes a challenge.
Indeed, he will be returning once again to play his part in our annual event as it returns to Brussels this September, with a raft of industry tests and opportunities on the horizon. Our 2025 showcase marks the fifth edition of the event, which has taken place amid a significant period of transformation across our combined confectionery and snacks industries.
This year will see a strong core of keynotes including the likes of Ferrero, ethically focused B2B business Luker Chocolate, and major broader sector insights being provided by our knowledge partners. Euromonitor International and Mintel. Make the most of our early bird rates throughout April in registering for our 2025 event on 11 September via our dedicated website through this direct link, which provides full updates of how the event is taking shape.
World Confectionery Conference Brussels. Pic: Dafos Photography
Our conference’s themes have remained steadfastly dedicated to sustainability, innovation and developments across finishes products, equipment, systems, supply chains and ingredients. As with all our previous iterations, we have endeavoured to shine a light on some of the hottest topics facing our sector, and this year will be no exception.
There is little escaping the fact supply chain challenges continue to play their part, arising from inflationary pressures, ongoing geopolitical tensions around the world, as well as pressing environmental issues affecting key crops serving the confectionery industry. Many of these issues are directly linked to industry sustainability, which will once again come under the microscope for our special Q&A session that will offer a key forum for debate and discussion.
Reflecting on his appearance last year, Caobisco’s president enthused that he is keenly awaiting the chance to pick up on some of the core topics raised last year in Brussels.
“The last edition of the World Confectionery Conference was a very interesting occasion to bring different stakeholders together, and I hope that it’s a success once again this year. “It was a good opportunity for us to discuss sustainability topics, innovation, as well as trade policy, and challenges that the industry is facing.
“So, I think it provided a very good space for those discussions, including on supply chain resilience, sourcing and regulatory challenges ahead,” enthused the senior industry policy specialist. As Can himself highlighted last year, there is clearly no room for complacency within the sector, as it grapples with market uncertainties and geopolitical instability seen in the Middle East and Ukraine that continues to impact traditional supply chains.
Fanny Gauttier, EU Public Affairs Lead for the Rainforest Alliance spoke of the importance of the EUDR regulations at last month’s World Confectionery Conference. Pic: Dafos
Consequently, many firms face the prospect of elevated manufacturing costs, which has impacted the market at all levels, from SME’s through to major international businesses. Furthermore, as he reflected noted, his core takeaways from our last event were that there remained an overarching need for clearer EU and simplified EU regulations on sustainability.
He also observed the need to strengthen trade agreements to enable the free flow of trade into the EU in particular, and also added that many of the presentations highlighted the need to support innovation across the industry.
The latter point is especially significant, for without sufficient resources placed into the confectionery sector, in terms of new product innovation and reformulation of ranges, as well as enhancing machinery and technology, then the industry will continue to face stiff challenges in delivering sustainable growth.
“Since the conference, we have had some important milestones, including a new EU Commission which is starting to settle in from last December, so we are in the early days of its programme.
“It has announced a number of key documents for us to understand, and its overall roadmap is focused on the EU regaining competitiveness, while maintaining sustainability goals,” he explains of the pivotal moment for European industries including operating across a number of spheres of industry, including those working within confectionery, snacks and bakery markets. In his core working role as senior director of global public affairs at Mondelez International, the experienced policy specialist is all too aware of the complex regulatory issues occupying the agendas of businesses across sectors this year.
“As always, what’s most rewarding is to work with outstanding colleagues, so when we come together, there’s such a richness in terms of the vision, and know-how that’s available throughout. Then the products that we work with are bringing a lot of joy, happiness and relief to our consumers in their daily lives, amid the stressful environment that we’re in, so they fulfil an important role. So, it is a pleasure to be working with them,” adding that he believed the sector in general was acting responsibly to innovate and reformulate product ranges to accommodate core ingredients including sugar, salt and fat in regard to health and wellbeing considerations.
This, he noted, also extends to matters such as portion balance, which his company, Mondelez, and many others have increasingly paid close attention to, which has led to individual company policies, as well as Caobisco releasing its previous Treatwell campaign advocating mindful consumption of confectionery and snacks. Watch our 2024 event video below.
Moreover, regarding policy, among the most pressing matters has been in playing his part shaping the company’s response to the much-publicised incoming EUDR laws focused upon mandatory compliance from companies to ensure their supply chains are considered as being deforestation free. This breakthrough framework has been hailed as having gamechanging potential, though following industrial and political lobbying from, the proposed laws will be taken forward at a delayed pace in beginning at the end of this year.
As Can explains to Confectionery Production, he is eager to see such progressive operating standards move forward and not become simply a box ticking exercise of best practices – along with the equally significant due diligence legislation.
Despite meeting resistance in some quarters, the corporate sustainability reporting directive (CSRD), of annual standards reporting, and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), are now being put forward by the EU Commission.
Together, these represent crucial environmental, human and social rights protections for the entire value chain, that Mondelez and many companies operating across the confectionery sector have continued to back as a positive force.
Moreover, as our title has recently covered, these combined pieces of legislation, forming part of the broader Green Deal frameworks for the EU unveiled five years ago, are now being re-evaluated by the EU Commission.
It has put forward what is described as an ‘Omnibus’ package designed to simplify and clarify the requirements for companies of all sizes operating within the EU. While smaller and medium-sized businesses, including some within the confectionery sector have expressed concerns about exactly what level of administration this will require of them, there has been a broad consensus that the EUDR and its related corporate due diligence laws should not be watered down in achieving stated and already agreed sustainability goals. Indeed, as we have continued to cover, many confectionery companies have been especially driven by their targets on improving their operations both in terms of ethical sourcing, and environmental considerations.
This has seen a number of businesses in the sector sign up to the fast-rising B Corp movement that has set the agenda for delivering sustainability gains on the ground. Just how important are these combined pieces of landmark legislation going to be for the industry in his eyes? “I think they are important in that they create a harmonised European legislative framework, a level playing field of set standards, therefore we don’t believe these regulations should be scrapped, but I think these simplification attempts are particularly helping our SME’s.
“As Caobisco, we are trying to understand how our industry will be impacted by these legislative changes coming our way including the Omnibus proposal. “So, you need to feel the pulse of the membership on these issues, and their overall understanding is that we need to support clear and consistent policies. The more we can reduce red tape surrounding these initiatives without losing their goals will be an important milestone” noted Can, who originally hails from Turkiye, but lives with his family in Brussels, which remains a key regional strategic policy hub. He explained the refined implementation of EUDR was of prime concern for the majority of SME’s that make up its membership of more than 13,000 companies, both in financial and in terms of available resources at their disposal.
Company actions
As Can observed from a company perspective, he confirmed that Mondelez continues its efforts to evolve its actions on the ground supporting communities, farmers and supply chains as a whole.
This includes its longstanding Cocoa Life Programme, which has addressed issues at the heart of regulations making their way through the European Parliament this year. Under the company’s flagship scheme, by 2030 more than $1 billion will have been placed into its operations reaching 300,000 farmers within its cocoa supply chains. As with the remainder of the sector, it is continuing to address child labour through Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation Systems in the industry’s principal sourcing locations of Ghana and Ivory Coast, which the industry has continued to pledge in eradicating as an issue. While there’s clearly more work required, the company has remained committed to its goals.
As Cedric van Cutsem, Mondelez, senior director of the Cocoa Life programme recently reflected at Chocoa in Amsterdam, there had been encouraging progress with scheme over the past decade. However, he conceded that a combination of factors, including the present crisis in the cocoa sector brought about by multiple factors including comparatively high prices, crop disease and underlying endemic poverty, as well as climate instability that were all impacting on finally resolving issues of child labour in particular.
Personal priorities
For his part, leading on a broad array of policy concerns has kept Can’s personal diary exceptionally busy so far this year. With the events within the sector, as with many others, finely balanced, there’s a renewed sense of urgency in continuing to drive forward its commercial, as well as sustainability agenda.
“Within Europe, all the sustainability legislations that are in place are a key priority for us. There are a number of deadlines to prepare for in regard to our reporting requirements, as well as due diligence requirements, and even if these are delayed, we will continue working on them for our own measures anyway.
“We need to bring clarity on these issues in order for them to kick-in as soon as possible, and our other ‘big file’ now is in getting ready for EUDR on deforestation. We’re a bit disappointed on this – when the delay was proposed in October – the reason was given as lack of available tools for benchmarking, which was not available,” he explained, noting that as of the end of the first quarter of 2025, many of the questions surrounding EUDR’s implementation have gone unanswered.
- For an extended version of this piece, see our latest edition of Confectionery Production. Register for this year’s World Confectionery Conference via our website – commercial sponsorship and speaker opportunities are still available, with our early bird rates running until the end of April.
Visit confectioneryconference.com
