Zurich (AFP)

Swiss chocolate has not escaped the shock of the pandemic: the consumption of one of the flagship products of this Alpine country melted last year to its lowest level in nearly 40 years.

The Helvetians, the first consumers of chocolate in the world, apparently had their appetites suppressed by the virus in 2020: they ate 9.9 kilograms per person (against 10.4 kilograms the previous year), thus passing below the symbolic bar of 10 kgs, the lowest quantity since 1982, according to the federation of chocolate producers, Chocosuisse.

Same trend for chocolate production, which fell by 10% compared to the previous year, to 180,000 tonnes.

And exports, which account for nearly 70% of the turnover of Swiss chocolate makers, fell by 11.5% to 126,000 tonnes.

The extent of the decline in consumption is partly explained by the low number of tourists which weighed on the annual statistics, qualified Urs Furrer, the boss of Chocosuisse, in an interview with AFP.

To assess the consumption per person from one country to another, the volumes sold in each country are divided by the number of inhabitants, which tends to inflate the figures in Switzerland where tablets and pralines are among the souvenirs that tourists bring back in their suitcases.

"We could not count exactly the consumption of the inhabitants (without tourists) because at the point of sale, the seller does not know if a person who buys the chocolate lives in the country or if this person is a tourist", he clarified.

- Less pralines offered -

However, the calculation gives an order of magnitude.

And like elsewhere, consumption in Switzerland has also declined with the health crisis, with changes in consumption habits, between teleworking and health restrictions.

"Consumption has also decreased in places where there are a lot of traffic, such as train stations or town centers," Furrer noted, reducing so-called impulse purchases for chocolate bars often bought on the spur of the moment. head.

With social distancing, the occasions to get together have also been less frequent and "the sales of pralines as gifts have also decreased limiting the purchases of pralines", he added.

On the other hand, the sale of so-called semi-finished products, "that is to say the chocolate mass used by bakers and confectioners has increased on the Swiss market", noted Mr. Furrer, chocolate lovers being more to crack for a sweet to consume at home.

On Tuesday, Lindt & Sprüngli, one of the best-known chocolate makers in the Alpine country, released its annual results, also reporting a 10.9% drop in turnover in 2020, to 4.02 billion euros. Swiss francs (3.63 billion euros).

Excluding currency effects, the decline in sales was however limited to 6.1%, he said.

While chocolate is one of the so-called comfort products, highly prized during containment, sales of tablets of its Excellence brand posted double-digit growth.

But the Swiss group has also suffered the repercussions of the collapse of tourism which has affected duty-free shops in airports, the closure of its cafes and stores, the decline in catering services as well as less demand at Easter and Christmas.

© 2021 AFP