The two numbers side by side
On the most recent full year Poland imported roughly one and eight-tenths billion dollars of chocolate. Türkiye was the seventeenth source at about eight-tenths of a per cent — small. But the unit value of what arrived was roughly eleven and a half dollars a kilo, against under nine for Germany, about nine for Italy, under ten for Belgium and around six for France.
In sugar confectionery the position is stronger on both counts: Türkiye eleventh source, about three and a half per cent of a four hundred and seventy-six million dollar market, at roughly five and a half dollars a kilo — again above the large European suppliers.
What a high unit value on a small share means
Unit value is declared value divided by weight. It is not a margin and not a shelf price. What it reliably describes is what kind of goods are moving. A container of everyday tablets and a container of pistachio and kadayıf bars land in very different places on that scale.
So the figures are not saying Turkish chocolate is expensive in Poland. They are saying that what already goes to Poland from Türkiye is the specific end of the range, and that somebody is already selling it successfully at that end.
The search data says the same thing
We measured Polish demand before writing this page, and the pattern matches. The live terms are pistachio paste, Dubai-style chocolate, rachatłukum, dragées and coated nuts, gift boxes and the by-weight counter. Commodity chocolate barely appears as a buying term — because the domestic industry has it covered.
That is a useful thing for an importer to know before building a range. The gap in the Polish shelf is not price. It is products the domestic industry does not run.
What that makes the container
A mixed one. Pistachio and kadayıf bars, chocolate dragées and sugared almonds, coated nuts, rachatłukum in boxes and loose, a pistachio spread in jars, and gelled sweets for the by-weight counter — six or seven references in modest quantities rather than one long run.
The minimum is set per line, not by the container, which is what makes a short list of many things possible. One packing list, one A.TR movement certificate, one clearance.
What we are not claiming
We are not claiming to beat a Polish co-packer on an everyday tablet, and we do not publish duty figures, because they change; the offer states the tariff line and what applies on the day. We do not publish a standing lead time or shelf life either — those come per line in the offer.
One caveat on the trade figures: Türkiye's export record and Poland's import record do not match, and here the unit values are nearly identical while the values differ. That gap is re-export through a third EU country rather than a freight-terms difference. The numbers above are Poland's own import record, because that is the market the buyer is standing in.
What to send
Send the references, the quantity per line and the port or delivery address, and say whether you are buying for a retail shelf, for wholesale cartons or for the favour trade. The written offer follows within two working days, with, the minimum per line and the transport regime for each range.
Why import chocolate into a country that makes so much of it?
Because the gap is not price, it is range. The domestic industry covers the everyday tablet; a container from Gaziantep adds pistachio and kadayıf lines, dragées, rachatłukum, coated nuts and pistachio spread — and the trade figures show those already arrive at a higher unit value than the large European suppliers.
Does a higher price per kilo mean Turkish goods are expensive?
No. Unit value describes what kind of goods are moving, not a margin. It says the Turkish product already entering Poland is the specific end of the range rather than the everyday tablet.
Can you match a Polish co-packer's lead time?
Not on an everyday tablet, and we do not pretend otherwise. Where we are useful is the range a domestic co-packer does not run, quoted as one mixed container with the minimum set per line.
