Moscow, Oct 22 - Sweet-toothed Russia's confectionery market will grow in the mid-teens percent next year and Britain's Cadbury can gain market share, its managing director for the region said on Wednesday.
"Our projections for next year are fairly robust. They assume we will be able to gain share in gum and chocolate as (Russian consumers) trade up from traditional Russian brands," Steve Strachota, managing director for the region, said.
His growth prediction referred to volume. Russia is the world's second largest confectionery market.
Strachota told a round table held by the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce that double digit inflation was starting to chip away at volume growth even before the global crisis began to threaten overall economic growth.
But he said the outlays made by Cadbury, which operates two factories in northwest Russia, remained sound.
"There are cracks forming in the foundation of the consumer sector but investments ... make sense," he said.