Sweet Retailing

http://www.journalism.co.uk/press-releases/new-confectionery-website-makes-life-sweeter-for-retailers/s66/a543598/

So the above link is one talking about how a new website is coming out that will be "the ultimate information resource"

and this is the ultimate candy site!

http://www.sweetretailing.co.uk/

on it i then found THIS article on the rise in liquorice sales which is weird since liquorice is gross. A leading manufacturer of this old people candy reports a 24% sale's growth.

http://www.sweetretailing.co.uk/index.php/sweet_talk/view/the_growth_of_all_things_liquorice

The article couples a casual tone and then delves into financial information. Really cool find.

Super secret candy news

https://www.agra-net.com/portal2/home.jsp?template=pubarticle&artid=1280910926143&pubid=ag005

The only thing that this link says that is public is "THE US's National Confectioners' Association (NCA) has written to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in response to the Agency's request for comments on Front-of-Pack (FOP) and Shelf Tag Nutrition Symbols in retail stores." After that the site wants users to log in. WHAT ARE YOU HIDING. Anyway, I trust something that makes you log in. Means the information isn't exactly public and thus may have some really interesting things going on

Extreme!!

http://www.confectionerynews.com/Formulation/Extreme-flavors-becoming-mainstream-says-new-report

Another article from ConfectionaryNew.com talking about how "extreme" flavors are rising in popularity. It references the CCD, Center for Culinary Development. I serach them and found a page on how they track trends

http://www.ccdsf.com/trends/trendmapping.php

Fox 29 News

Okay, so this does not count as a source BUT i thought it was interesting. I'm watching over the news and they're talking about how tastykake is going out of business. One of the main reasons for the company's financial struggle is the high prices of cocoa and sugar! Just goes to show that this is still a trend in candies!

Chocolate!

http://www.ausfoodnews.com.au/2009/06/29/is-chocolate-recession-proof.html

I think the confection business is one that people don't think is recession proof but this article says differently. People eat candy and chocolate all year around as a pick me up

http://www.icco.org/about/about.aspx

I had no idea there was a national cocoa association

Japanese Candy

http://www.ats.agr.gc.ca/asi/5427-eng.pdf


Here's a PDF project of Japan's candy market in March 2010. Done by the agriculture and food Bureau of canada. The article not only talks about Japan's place in the scope of the entire Chinese Candy Marke but also how chocolate bars and cereals do within japan.

ConfectioneryNews.com

This site is exactly what it sounds like. Some articles i don't quite understand such as an article talking about natural coloring and the sustainability of a product. Not sure how those two things relate BUT the site has a lot of articles about candy developments. Here's an article dealing with what qualifies as natural flavors and colors:

http://www.confectionerynews.com/On-your-radar/Natural-Colours-and-Flavourings/What-natural-means-in-food-regulations

In another article the production of cocoa Malaysia has incorporated computers to help heat the cocoa as well as help with cost calculations

http://www.confectionerynews.com/On-your-radar/Cocoa-supply/New-process-method-could-boost-Malaysian-cocoa-output