Candy and gum sales posted strong sales for the four week period ending March 21st and continue the positive trend for the first quarter of 2010.  Dollar sales for the fifty-two week period grew 9.3% in Food, Drug and Mass outlets other than Wal-Mart.   Sales for the four week period reached an astounding 10.9% due in part to the Easter holiday selling season.

Again this month, non-chocolate out performed the other categories in the fifty-two week period with 10.5% growth; chocolate was close behind at 9.7% and gum sales still strong with a 5.3% increase.

Supermarkets have grown at a 9.2% rate and drug stores have increased sales at a 6.9% rate.

One of the drivers of the sales growth is price increases across the category as unit sales continue to lag the dollar sales increases.  Categories that have grown in both units and dollars over the past 52 weeks include specialty nut candy, caramel/taffy and, of course, Easter candy.

According to IRI, overall Easter confectionery sales grew at a healthy 3.8% rate.  Supermarket sales grew 5.3% while drug stores sales declined very slightly by less than a percent.  Unit sales increased in all channels - a positive sign for continued economic recovery.