In recent decades, the confectionery market in Ukraine has been growing dynamically. Its further development largely depends on the ability to automate production, where a high share of manual labor still remains.
This was stated by Andriy Prokhorov, Director of La Tartu LLC, the first innovative confectionery company in Ukraine.
“Over the past decade, the cream confectionery market has been a growing one. However, it requires significant investment at every level. Many confectionery factories have stalled in their development due to the challenges of automation. Our future lies in full automation. That is why we are very cautious when considering products with a high share of manual labor.”
Another challenge faced by confectionery manufacturers is a shortage of skilled labor.
The cream confectionery market remains quite conservative, with Ukrainian consumers preferring familiar flavors. For example, the choux pastry market in Kyiv alone amounts to approximately UAH 20 million in monetary terms. Choux pastries are also the most popular products among consumers of the TARTA brand. Healthy eating trends have had little impact on the volume and ассортимент of confectionery production.
“From a business perspective, I am not a supporter of moving into the healthy food niche. It is an image-driven and appealing idea, but it does not bring significant revenue or scale,” Prokhorov noted.
Currently, the company produces 120 tons of cream confectionery products and plans to become one of the market leaders within the next 3–5 years. The brand’s key advantage is its packaging technology using a modified atmosphere, which allows extending the shelf life of products up to 12 days.