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

CocoaVia

Okay so perhaps not the most credible search seeing as it's the official site BUT at least it gives an idea how hershey is marketing this stuff.

http://www.cocoavia.com/the-wonders-of-cocoavia/

Sugar free = I don't eat it

http://www.forbes.com/2006/03/14/hershey-health-candy-cx_sy_0315feat_ls.html

For the record, i am totally against making candy healthy. its candy! But i guess in this day and age health foods are selling more and more

Look at the candy that was at a party i was at

No one likes peaunt chews except my friend sean

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/blogs/media/2010/10/peanut_chews_billboards_aiming_for_snickers.html

an article from a business plan website talking about how hard Peanut chews was trying in 2010 to get their image out there

New candy developments

http://www.confectionerynews.com/Markets/Exotic-and-indulgent-brand-twists-form-key-candy-developments

New flavors of candy are coming out using exotic fruits. MM! And again chocolate is booming in the recession!

I ate an entire bag of gummi bears monday

http://216.197.100.31/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=DA4B10E27F364601A580234D11CCB460&nm=News&type=MultiPublishing&mod=PublishingTitles&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=8AB4AA5AF5214E38AEEB23DD5F6342C8&AudId=4A0007E1C5A94C11B28A92E75205FB00

An article of Industry News on the "Professional Candy Buyer" site. Brazil's chocolate industry is growing "the balance of chocolate, candy, confectionery and peanut exports for 2010 came to US$ 303.7 million, an increase of 3.7% compared to the previous year. "

Troops Scoops!

http://www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2009/julytoops.html

This says it's an industry website. This article actually quotes the vice president of customer and industry affairs for Hershey Co., Hershey, Tom Joyce. It's actually a pretty accessible and interesting article. It lists weird new candies as well as gives figures from a 2009 candy expo, glad to hear candy is doing well in the recession!

There's a National Confections Association

http://www.candyusa.com/FunStuff/?navItemNumber=2670

the site seems pretty official but all the scientific stuff says you need to log in to be able to access it :( Digging around led me to here

http://www.candyusa.com/Sales/ResearchDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=1935

which has some marketing plan for candy.

Also this looks like it'd be a lot of fun.
http://www.candyusa.com/Events/EventDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=3058

Two Candy Sources

1. https://www.aibonline.org/resources/statistics/confectionery.html

this first Source links to so many great article concerning trends in candy manufacturing. "The following document is a compilation of general information on general bakery market statistics and trends and related topics. These citations were recovered from AIB in-house databases, and represent original work by AIB personnel. Every effort is made to ensure accuracy, but AIB accepts no liability for content of this resource list."

2. http://www.aactcandy.org/firstpage/a2009201002033.pdf

This source is a Pdf of an article written by Alison Bodor from the National Confectioners Association. In the 2009 article she discusses new food regulations on cady such as the recall on possibly contaminated peanuts.