The president of the Caobisco key European trade body Tobias Bachmüller has opened this year’s World Confectionery Conference event in London, stressing the value of engaging collaboratively across the sector, writes Neill Barston.

In his opening address to a dynamic range of guests from around the globe, the senior industry executive, who also serves as a managing shareholder of the Katjes confectionery group underlined the organisation’s mission across the continent.

As he noted, the sector faces some stern tests ahead as it moves to meet enhanced regulatory pressures, including new EUDR regulations, as well as ongoing supply chain challenges, namely from geopolitical instability from the wars in Ukraine and in Iran, which are impacting across sectors.

He stated: “Caobisco’s mission is to support its member companies’ freedom to market their products in a flexible and responsible manner and to support the development of an innovative, sustainable, competitive and creative chocolate, biscuit and confectionery industry in Europe that represents the values of its member companies.​”

Notably, as Bachmüller observed, Coabisco has continued to work with its core membership of some 15,000 confectionery companies right across the continent, from Ireland through to Greece, with some 90% of its membership being SME enterprises alongside a small core of major manufacturers across the industry.

The president also spoke of its three pillars, which continue to revolve around having a focused voice in Brussels to engage with core policies impacting the confectionery and snacking markets. In addition, its strategies also embrace sharing of best practice and data intelligence to help businesses working right across the industry. Finally, its other core principle is one of supporting firms in ensuring that chocolate, biscuits and confectionery remain safe, high quality, responsibly sourced ranges.

Market challenges
Significantly, the Caobisco president further addressed market challenges including ongoing cocoa volatility, with record prices that have left a situation with farmer incomes being far from resolved, which he acknowledged remained a notable issue.

Similarly, he reaffirmed the organisation’s  commitment to supporting the goals of EUDR deforestation laws, as well as related due diligence, while also noting that the impact of such major frameworks will place an added burden on companies, which remained a topic to retain close watch on as the legislation comes through at the end of this year.

In terms of sugar policy, he noted that Caobisco has opposed the planned suspension of inward processing of sugar to the EU, which he noted was an instrument that exporters depend on. Furthermore, he observed that geopolitical issues, including the war in Iran and Ukraine were resulting in higher agricultural input costs, as well as disrupted logistics that ultimately have seen few export opportunities emerge. 

Despite such tests, he offered a note of optimism, that consumers universally ‘still loved their treats’ and there were signs that strong innovation would help deliver positive results for the wider sector.