China’s western dominated chocolate market set to be broken into by Aalst chocolate

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Aalst, a Singapore based premium chocolate brand, will be making a big impression with the Asian market after being brought into China’s retail stores and e-commerce channels through the services of a Shanghai food importer.

The chocolate company is expected to directly compete with several big names within the industry, such as Mars and Hershey. Aalst are well known for their 61% dark bar, and will hope this can create a wedge in the Chinese chocolate confectionery market, with it being dominated by many western brands.

According to Euromonitor data, Mars is the current leader in the Chinese chocolate market, raking in 37% of the value share for 2017.

Aalst was founded back in 2003, and sources cocoa beans from all over the world. Once they have acquired said cocoa beans, they blend them based on their ‘proprietary recipes’, according to the company.

In addition, Aalst also manufactures single-origin chocolate bars, specifically for those who tend to prefer regional characteristics of cocoa.

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