Exclusive: Companies shine for the Brussels’ 2025 World Confectionery Conference

An engaging and diverse array of industry talents successfully assembled for this year’s World Confectionery Conference, as it returned to Brussels for our fourth live event.

Attendees from around the globe including across Europe, as well as representatives from  Colombia and South Africa took part in our key annual event held yesterday at the Marriott Hotel, Brussels, Grand Place.

This year’s event was opened with a significant keynote address from Aldo Cristiano, vice president of Caobisco (main image), who offered a notable  assessment of the confectionery sector. Though he acknowledged that the industry faces “considerable challenges” he believed that through careful collaboration, it would continue to prove comparatively resilient in spite of a backdrop of market supply chain challenges and geopolitical instability that has impacted across industries over the past two years,

Significantly, the event saw the presentation of six World Confectionery Awards that included a win in our finished product segment for the UK’s Prestat Chocolates with its recently released version of Dubai Chocolate.

The event also saw a return for Seyma Ozonuk, of Palsgaard, who explained the virtues of its AMP system, which she believed could make a considerable difference to manufacturers’ operations in terms of potential efficiency savings compared against other methods.

With sustainability remaining at the heart of the event, Colombia’s Cordillera Chocolates gained honours in this category, with the business being recognised for its national programme successfully targeting support for women cocoa farmers. 

Natalie Zuluaga, the company’s director of global marketing, pictured below) received the honours on the day.

Equipment innovation of the year went to Schubert packaging machinery, for its advanced cobot systems, which have been making key inroads within industry, including for the confectionery and snacks sector.

For its part, France’s Alland & Robert claimed the ingredients honours of the year award for the company’s advanced gelling solution for the vegan gummy market, marking an extension of its core area of competence in the acacia gum application market. The event also heard from Angeline Camus (pictured below), of Roundtable on sustainable palm oil), who asserted that the organisation was continuing to make a breakthrough in terms of consumer recognition, and hoped that its actions were having a positive environmental monitoring benefit.

Then, the emerging enterprise of the year accolade went to Uk-based Wild Thingz, founded by former Mondelez marketeer Fliss Newland, who has made a notable impact with her line of reduced sugar gummies that have enjoyed gains this year in securing supermarket and specialist store listings.

There were also honours for Kent-based Fudge Kitchen, which attained the Team of the Year award, with judges having praised the company’s collaborative, and close-knit spirit across the business. It was also highly commended for its 2025 range of fudges. 

This year’s other keynotes included Ferrero’s head of nutrition, Sebastiano Collino (below), who revealed how the business had recently approached devising a specific nutritional framework for its portfolio, with the company increasingly looking to how it can integrate better-for-you brands within its offering, as it continues to grow its global operations.

The audience also heard from fellow keynote Julia Ocampo, sustainability specialist from the Colombian-headquartered Luker Chocolate (below), who offered an inspiring snapshot of how the company has worked with smallholder farmers in its native country. She also explored the company’s outreach programmes for education and agricultural training that have played a notable part of its success in recent years.

Among the event’s wider dynamic programme (see our full review in our next edition of Confectionery Production magazine), attendees explored major trends impact ing the global market. 

Mintel’s Honorata Jarocka, offered an analysis of significant product development for the industry, noting the emergence of trends including ‘beauty chocolate,’ angel hair (which she noted may potentially displace Dubai Chocolate), and wider trends for enhanced nutrition in the form of protein, as well as a wider programme of better-for-you products.

This was augmented by an equally compelling insight presentation from Tristan Hover of Euromonitor International, who offered a breakdown of how this years’ confectionery markets in Europe have been performing, with innovations across chocolate, creative inclusions including functional ingredients, as well as protein packed bars and snacks being particularly prominent amid a sustained interest in health, wellness and nutrition. 

There was also a significant equipment focus courtesy of the Cama packaging machinery business, as Tjalling van der zee, the company’s Netherlands regional manager, offered an overview of its capabilities, and moves to drive sustainability within the industry in reference to its machinery designs, as well as recently devised eco-friendly Go-wrap system.

Proceedings were capped-off with some lively debate for our centrepiece Q&A on sustainability and the future of the confectionery sector, which has come under pressure this year from high cocoa prices, logistics tests, and the lingering impact of geopolitical tensions and landmark regulatory hurdles around the world.

Panellists, which included Jason Acheampong of Fairtrade, Francesco Tramontin of Ferrero, Thierry Touchais of Rainforest Alliance, Sabine Schommer of ISM Cologne, and HRM Oba Dokun Thompson tackled a number of key issues including means of making farmers lives more equitable in the supply chain. They also addressed the upcoming EUDR regulations that are due at the end of this year, and also whether technical solutions, such as the ever-increasing use of AI can positively influence the major challenges facing the sector.

The panellists concluded that urgent collaborative action, and key investments are required to ensure the stability of key supply chains, particularly in regards to the cocoa industry in West Africa.

See our next publication for an extensive review of proceedings on 11 September, with a subscriber exclusive version online to follow.

Confectionery Production editor Neill Barston commented on another successful edition. He said: “This year proved to be another triumph for all involved with the World Confectionery Conference as it returned to the location that kicked-off our live events in 2022.

“We would just like to offer a note of gratitude to all who played their part, whether that’s our excellent combination of speakers from across the industry, to our exhibitors, all who entered our awards, and break sponsor, Kersia. Furthermore, just as importantly, we’re very much appreciative of all those who journeyed from afar afield as Cologne, Colombia and South America to ensure a truly dynamic conference.

“The quality of presentations this year, including our concluding QandA set another very high bar for our event, and it was so encouraging to hear all the positive feedback we received on the day, which meant a lot to our team.”

• See our next edition of Confectionery Production magazine for a full extended feature on the conference, as well as our feature section shortly for more on our 2025 event…