A confectionery tax imposed in 2011 does not seem to have lowered sales of sweets. Retailers say the ‘sugar tax’ brought a slight, short-term decline in candy sales – which soon reverted to previous levels.
“Sales may have gone down slightly in 2012, just by a few percent,” recalls Matti Himberg, manager of the K-citymarket Jumbo in Vantaa. “This year we haven’t really seen any impact.”
Calls by Yle reporters to shopkeepers around Finland reveal similar experiences elsewhere. At first, for instance, sales of ‘pick 'n' mix’ loose candy dipped by five to 10 percent. With the kilo price clearly displayed, the rise was more visible in this bulk confectionery, and in large bags of sweets.
Before the tax reform, the classic 200-gramme Fazer milk chocolate bar – the perennial national bestseller – cost around 1.60 euros. Now it costs about 2.20 – a rise of nearly 30 percent within three years.
More than a bar weekly
Retail managers expect this year’s Christmas confectionery sales to be around the same level as last year’s.
The average resident of Finland eats 14 kilos of sweets annually – or well over one 200-gramme chocolate bar weekly. About 60 percent of them are made domestically. An excise tax of 95 cents a kilo is levied on both Finnish and imported candy. However the tax hits domestic producers harder as manufacturing costs are higher here. Imports have risen by more than 10 percent since the turn of the millennium.
Politicians said the sweet tax was aimed at improving Finns’ health – which it does not seem to have significantly affected. It has however improved the health of the state budget.
The excise tax on chocolate and other sweets has brought an estimated 78 million euros into state coffers this year. Counting ice cream and soft drinks, which are also subject to the sugar tax, the government netted 203 million euros this year.