News in brief
Nutella faces competition from Italian pasta maker
Italian spaghetti maker Barilla is reportedly preparing to launch a chocolate spread in 2019, as a direct challenge to Ferrero’s popular Nutella hazelnut spread.
Nutella is the leader in the chocolate spread market commanding 54% of global sales worth $2.3bn, with little competition - up until now.
In July, Lindt launched an exclusive ‘hazlenut cream’ product and Cokokrem, produced by Yildiz Holding, is the second most popular spread with a share of only 2%, according to Euromonitor International.
Barilla, best known for its blue-boxed spaghetti and maccheroni, is not commenting on the stories, telling Reuters news agency it would “answer questions about new products in the coming weeks”.
Reuters reported that Barilla decided to mount a challenge to Nutella after evidence that Ferrero was starting to encroach on the pasta-maker’s lesser-known biscuit business.
One significant leak is that Barilla's new spread, Crema Pan di Stelle, will not contain palm oil (unlike Nutella), only sunflower oil, 10% less sugar, Italian-only hazelnuts and cocoa sourced from sustainable farms.
