A declaration rather than a reconstruction
Most small markets in this region can only be seen in a mirror: the customs office publishes nothing, so the view is assembled from what every exporting country says it shipped, and it shifts when a partner reports late. Here the figures are the country’s own statement.
That is firmer ground, not complete. A declaration records what was entered for home use, by value, under a heading — nothing about who sold it, how often it changed hands, or which road it came in on. Those decide your landed cost.
The chocolate column, and a rank we will not sell you
Chocolate is the short column: 107,518 US dollars. Türkiye leads it at roughly 26.51 per cent, France follows at 23.8 and Nigeria at 19.3.
We would rather be plain about that first place: a column this size is counted in containers, not shiploads, and a rank inside it says little about what moves off your shelf. It does settle the origin argument: nobody needs persuading that Turkish chocolate sells. The open questions are narrower: which line, in which format and case weight, under whose label, and how much of the offer is written down before money moves.
The sweet column, and the length of the chain
Sugar confectionery is the heavy column — 1,517,846 US dollars — and it fills from a long way off: India about 79.0 per cent, Brazil 6.1, China 5.5, Türkiye fifth at 2.68.
That is a full shelf and we will not call it empty. What the table quietly records is distance: four fifths of the column travels a long route, and a long route is bought, warehoused and sold on before it reaches your door. The hands in front of you are the part of the price no invoice shows.
Why one country produces two opposite tables
Part of the answer is physical. Turkish delight, dragées, hard and chewy confectionery and jellies travel dry and take heat and a long road leg without complaint. Chocolate does not: it wants temperature control, which thins the list of origins willing to send it and rewards a short journey.
The rest is how each is bought. Chocolate is a small, brand-led shelf decision; sugar confectionery is a format and price decision on a large one — and format is what a distant source decides for you.
The leg the table does not record
Third place in the chocolate column is a land neighbour. Nigeria shares a border, and no sea leg ends in this country at all: a container is discharged at a port next door, travels under a transit procedure and is entered for home use at the end of that run. The table records the origin declared, not the route taken.
So an offer naming the port of discharge, the crossing it assumes and where responsibility changes hands is describing ordinary practice, not an excuse in advance. Buying on your own order does not remove the road; it removes the resale stops along it.
Turning a column into an order
A table this size carries a planned load rather than a standing programme, and one container can be mixed: chocolate, dragées, Turkish delight, wrapped confectionery and spreads in jars from our own factory on one order and one document set, with the minimum per line (mixed container).
Send the references you want priced, the format and case weight for each, an indicative quantity and where the container should be handed over. The offer comes back line by line — net weight, case and pallet data, lead time and delivery term — with the French label content beside it. Terms are FCA Gaziantep, FOB Mersin, CIF or DAP; Mersin is about three hours from our factory by road (how wework).
Türkiye is already first in the chocolate column. What is left to decide?
Not the origin, and not a ranking we would ask you to pay for — 107,518 US dollars is a small column and a position inside it proves little. What is still open is everything the table never shows: which lines, in which format and case weight, under whose label, and how much of the offer exists on paper before the money moves. One container can carry chocolate, dragées, Turkish delight, wrapped confectionery and spreads in jars from our own factory on a single order, with price, case weight, lead time and deliveryterm written per line.
Four fifths of the sweet column arrives from one distant origin. Can you supply that side?
Partly, and we would rather be exact than eager. Dragées, coated nuts, Turkish delight and wrapped confectionery are in the range and are quoted line by line. Couverture, bulk chocolate by the kilo, raw nuts, dried fruit, cocoa, halva, tahini and baklava sit outside it: sourced on request, and we confirm composition and format before quoting.
How reliable are the figures on this page?
They are this country’s own declaration for 2024 rather than a mirror total assembled from other countries’ export records, so they are firmer than most figures published for markets of this size. Their limit is different: a declaration records value entered under a heading and nothing about the route, the resale stops or the entry point, and with no coastline the goods finish their journey overland. Read the columns as size and direction, not as a map of how anything actually got here.
