Q & A with Annia Torrens, Export Director of Torras Sugar Free Chocolates

With a very specific market which is increasingly growing to the health requirement, over the past ten years Torras Sugar Free Chocolates has opted for unsweetened chocolate as a very important part of their production, which today is marketed in 30 countries worldwide.

What are the products marketed by your company?

Unsweetened chocolate produced for export. We have two types of products: chocolates with sugar and sugar-free, but our strength is basically non-sugar products.

Who are the potential costumers for your products?

Of course, everyone prefers chocolate with sugar, because sugar is not for a particular type of market, mainly diabetics, because at the same time has no gluten.

Our product is for a very specific sector, and although until recently we could not say it was a very popular chocolate, today the situation slowly begins to change since among our consumers there are also people who want to care for their health and they do not want fat, although the sugar-free chocolate is still a product for a particular segment.

What countries do you export today?

Today we are exporting to some 30 countries, but also do a lot of white label, as in Australia, which is our main customer, where they use our product but with their brand.

We also export Torrás brand to many countries, including almost all Latin America, where we have strong presence in Guatemala, Mexico, Venezuela and Cuba, among other nations, while in Europe we are virtually present in almost all countries, England, Germany, France, Romania, and Poland

We are also present in Asia, in countries such as Nepal, India, Dubai and others, some of them also based on white label, or with the product but using other brands there.

The world has become very fashionable in homemade chocolate. Do you think you could compete with them?

Not in the traditional chocolate manufacture. Our production base is chocolate without sugar, and not all chocolate producers can come up with sugar-free chocolate.

We have opted for this trend over the last ten years and we have done very well. At present nearly half of the production of this type of product is directed to a very different market.

Do you mean Torras continues to expand its markets?

Yes, the market has evolved a lot, but there are other countries which have not yet reached the unsweetened chocolate and are within our goals.

China is a good case in point, a very important market, or Japan, where they practically do not know about this product, and it is very difficult to make them understand that chocolate is also sweet, when a sugar-avoiding sweetener is only used in its manufacturing process.

In contrast to other countries which traditionally consume large amounts of chocolate candy, such as Cuba, the products have stuck. The fact of the matter is that each and every country has its peculiarities.