Minister urges people to choose Kazakh chocolate over foreign brands

Tengrinews.kz - Minister of Trade and Integration Arman Shakkaliyev commented on the rise in price of cocoa beans around the world and said whether this could cause the price of chocolate in Kazakhstan to rise.
The head of the Ministry of Trade confirmed that there are already interruptions in the supply of raw materials. He personally saw this when he visited a confectionery factory in the Kostanay region.

"There are certain issues related to price and quality. I also asked how much this would affect the cost of confectionery products. According to that data, literally two weeks of data, there were enough reserves, and they (representatives of the factory - ed.) said that there would be no serious price increases in the off-season," Arman Shakkaliyev said on the sidelines of the Mazhilis.

In Kazakhstan, the chocolate market, according to him, is highly competitive and 'low-concentration'.

"A very large number of participants. That's why they say that no serious changes in the price range are expected. Of course, price adjustments are possible, but there won't be any sudden changes in price. We have both domestic and imported ones. There are a lot of offers on the market, so if the price rises somewhere in some segment, then you switch as a consumer. Don't eat ‘Mars,’ eat our 'Bayan Sulu' or 'Mishka na severe'," Shakkaliyev advised.